UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


THE  GIFT  OF 

MAY  TREAT  MORRISON 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

ALEXANDER  F  MORRISON 


SKETCH 


LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


GENERAL  LEWIS  CASS. 


PAMPHLET  ON  THE  RIGHT  OF  SEARCH, 


AND  SOME  OF  HIS  SPEECHES  ON  THE 


GEEAT  POLITICAL  QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


WILLIAM  T.  YOUNG. 

\\ 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED  BY  E.  H.  BUTLER  &  CO. 
1853. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851, 

BT  WILLIAM   T.   TOUXG, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  for  the  District  of  Michigan. 


•>4o 


TO 

THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
& 

THE   FOLLOWING 
^» 

M 

Q;  SKETCH   OP   THE   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

OP   THE    SOLDIER,    THE    DIPLOMATIST,    THE    STATESMAN, 

AND   NATIONAL   DEMOCRAT, 
J 

IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED. 

j 


•JU 

O 

t 

3 


434524  -' 


PREFACE. 


A  desire  to  present  a  fair  and  impartial  history  of  the 
public  career  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  American  States- 
men, has  prompted  the  compilation  of  the  following  pages. 
However  great  may  be  the  difference  of  opinion,  politically 
regarded,  between  the  reader  and  the  distinguished  sub- 
ject of  the  work,  the  former  cannot  but  feel  a  just  and 
honorable  pride,  in  the  successful  career,  the  command- 
ing position,  and  the  statesmanship  of  his  countryman. 
Whether  he  be  viewed  at  the  bar,  on  the  battle  field,  as 
civil  governor,  in  the  cabinet,  at  the  foreign  court,  or  in 
the  senate,  he  stands  forth  a  noble  monument  of  the  re- 
wards of  industry,  integrity  and  patriotism, — a  cheering 
example  to  the  young  men  of  the  Union,  to  strive  to  fol- 
low in  his  path. 

The  writer  prefers  no  claim  to  originality  in  the  produc- 
tion of  this  work.  The  history  of  Lewis  Cass  is  to  be 
found  in  the  public  records  of  the  country ;  the  effect  of 
his  services,  in  her  progressive  prosperity  at  home,  and  in 


VIII  PREFACE. 


her  unstained  reputation  abroad.  To  collect  the  scattered 
history  of  his  many  and  valuable  services,  has  been  the 
object  most  in  view. 

The  appearance  of  this  book,  at  this  time  of  political 
excitement,  when  we  are  just  on  the  eve  of  a  Presidential 
election,  may  be  considered  as  stamping  the  work  with 
a  partisan  character ;  but  such  is  not  its  tenor,  or  the  pur- 
pose of  its  publication. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory  Remarks — Birth  of  Mr.  Cass — His  Parentage — Education — He  emi- 
grates to  Ohio — Enters  upon  the  Practice  of  the  Law — His  Success — Volun- 
teers in  Defence  of  the  Frontier— War  of  1812— Invasion  of  Canada— Col. 
Cass'  heroic  conduct  in  Canada — Defeats  a  party  •  of  British  Soldiers  near 
Maiden — Secures  an  Important  Post — Orders  of  Gen.  Hull — Is  compelled  to 
give  up  the  advantages  of  his  conquest,  and  return  with  the  army  to  Detroit. 

Page        17 


CHAPTER   II. 

Battle  of  Brownsiown — Battle  of  Maguaga — Col.  Cass  volunteers  to  accompany 
a  detachment  through  the  wilderness  to  the  River  Raisin — The  Surrender 
of  Detroit — The  detachment  ordered  to  return — Indignation  of  Cols.  Cass  and 
McArthur — Their  Return  to  Detroit — Letter  of  Gov.  Meigs — Resolutions  of 
General  Assembly  of  Ohio— Official  Letter  of  Col.  Cass  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment. Page  29 


CHAPTER  III. 

Effect  of  Surrender  of  Detroit — Volunteers  of  1812— Symms'  "  Card  " — Indian 
Warfare — Cruelties  of  the  Savages — The  Massacre  at  the  River  Raisin — The 
Defence  of  Fort  S.tephenson  by  Croghan  and  his  brave  compeers.  Page  53 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Reception  of  Col.  Cass  at  Washington — His  promotion — Confidence  of  the  Gov- 
ernment in  him — Is  apppointed  Brigadier  General — He  joius  the  army  under 
Harrisons-Harrison  assigns  to  Gen.  Cass  the  command  of  the  army  at  its  de- 
barkation on  the  Canada  shore — Proctor's  flight — Movements  of  the  army  in 
Canada — Battle  of  the  Thames — Gen.  Cass,  with  Com,  Perry,  acting  as  aids  to 
Gen.  Harrison — Defeat  and  flight  of  Proctor— Is  pursued  by  Gen.  Cass — Har- 
rison's testimony  to  the  personal  exertions  and  bravery  of  Gen.  Cass — Gen. 
Cass  is  left  by  Harrison  in  command  at  Detroit — Is  appointed  Governor  of  the 
Territory  by  Presidsnt  Madison — The  responsibility  of  his  Office — His  quali- 
fications— The  attachment  of  the  Citizeng  of  the  Territory — His  journey  to 
Albany  in  midwinter.  Page  ^  64 


Jil^  CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

• 

Colonel  Casg  as  Governor  of  Michigan  Territory — The  arduous  duties  of  his 
Office — Examination  of  Upper  Michigan — Is  requested  by  Government  to  as- 
certain the  disposition  of  the  Indians  in  Ohio  in  regard  to  disposing  of  their 
Lands — Is  appointed  Commissioner — Concludes  an  important  Treaty—  Urges 
the  construction  of  a  military  road  through  Ohio — Number  of  Treaties  made 
and  concluded  by  Gov.  Cass  with  Indian  Tribes — Tour  by  way  of  the  Lakes  to 
the  head-waters  of  the  Mississippi — Leaves  Detroit  in  an  open  boat — Navigates 
the  Great  Lakes  in  a  canoe — Perils  of  the  Route — Personal  exposure  "of  Gov  . 
Cass  in  resenting  an  insult  to  his  Country's  Flag — His  determination  and  the 
successful  results  of  his  expedition — Is  appointed  to  negotiate  Treaties  of 
Peace  between  hostile  Tribes — Accomplishes  his  purpose — A  novel  Temper- 
ance Lecture — Treaty  at  Fond  du  Lac — Gov.  Cass'  address  to  the  Pottawato- 
mies  and  Miamis.  Page  78 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Jojrney  to  Lake  Winnebago — Hostile  feeling  among  the  Winneba^oes — Attack 
on  the  Miners — War  Messages — Gov.  Cass  organizing  the  Miners  ior  defence — 
Alarm  at  Fever  River — He  goes  to  St.  Louis — Anxiety  at  Green  Bay  for  his 
safety — Rumors  there  of  his  death — Arrival  at  Green  Bov — Treaty  of  Butle  de 
Morta — Occurrence  at  the  Treaty — Personal  danger  at  Indian  village — Provi- 
dential escape — Removal  of  Troops,  cause  of  the  Indian  difficulties — Succes- 
sive appointments  of  Gov.  Cass — His  civil  administration — His  freedom  from 
religious  intolerance — Tribute  to  the  Catholic  Missionaries — Satisfaction  of  the 
people  with  his  administration — Secret  of  his  success — His  views  on  appoint- 
ment to  office — First  Legislative  Council  of  the  Territory — Gov.  Cass  calls 
attention  to  the  existence  of  Copper  on  the  upper  Peninsula — Removal  of  the 
New  York  Indians — Visits  of  the  Indians  to  the  British  post  at  Maiden — He 
attempts  to  prevent  them.J  Page  93 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Message  to  the  Legislative  Council  of  132o— Boundary  line  between  Michigan 
and  Ohio — Constitutional  Convention — Action  of  Congress  in  denning  bountla- 
rv  as  a  condition  of  admission  of  Michigan  into  the  Union — Action  of  the  two 
Conventions — Final  admission — Democratic  tone  of  Gov.  Cass'  messages. 

•  Page       108 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


GOT.  Cass  is  called  by  Gen.  Jackson  to  the  Head  of  the  \Var  Department—  Mo  - 
lives  prompting  the  selection  of  Gov.  Cass—  The  popularity  of  the  New  Cabi- 
net—Proceedings of  the  citizens  of  Detroit  on  the  departure  of  Gov.  Cass  for 
Washington—  Address  of  Major  Biddle  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  Michigan- 
Reply  of  Gov.  Cass  —  He  assumes  the  duties  of  the  Department-f-His  Indian 
policy  while  Secretary—  Black  Hawk  war—  His  preparations  to  bring  the  con- 
test to  a  speedy  close—  Reforms  introduced  by  Gov.  Cass  In  his  Department— 
Their  popularity—  The  Indian  difficulties  in  Georgia—  Decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  reviewed  by  Gov.  Cass  —  His  position  sustained  by 
the  people  and  adopted  by  the  President—  Defences  of  the  Country—  Gov. 
Cass  views  on  the  subject—  Controversy  between  the  Bank  of  United  States 
and  the  Administration—  Nullification  —  Action  of  the  Administration. 

Page       115 


CONTENTS.  XH  I 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Gov.  Cass  accepts  the  embassy  to  France — He  departs  on  his  mission —  Hia  •vigi- 
lance in  guarding  the  rights  of  his  country — He  thwarts  the  atteiu  pt  of  the 
English  Ministry  to  obtain  universal  dominion  on  the  high  seas — His  examina- 
tion of  the  question  of  the  Right  of  Search — His  Protest  laid  before  th  e  French 
Ministry — Subsequent  proceedings.  Pa  ge  133 


CHAPTER  X. 

Effect  of  the  protest  upon  the  action  of  the  French  government,  respecting  the 
Quintuple  Treaty —The  Ashburton  Treaty—Proceedings  of  Gov.  Cass,  on  receiv- 
ing copy  of  treaty — His  correspondence  with  Mr.  Webster,  Secretary  of  State. 

Page      171 


CHAPTER  XL 

Gov.  Cass'  opportunities  for  acquiring  knowledge  of  the  schemes  of  diploma- 
tists— His  success  in  thwarting  their  plots  against  the  welfare  of  his  country — 
His  return  to  the  United  States — The  reception  given  to  him  by  the  people  of 
Boston — Letter  from  Gen.  Jackson — The  welcome  extended  to  him  by  the  cit- 
izens of  the  towns  and  villages  through  which  he  passed  on  his  journey  to  De- 
troit— His  letter  to  the  Committee  of  the  Democratic  Convention  of  Indiana — 
Gen.  Cass  regarded  by  the  people  as  a  Candidate  for  the  Presidency — Public 
opinion,  The  annexation  of  Texas — Gen,  Cass'  letter  advocating  annexation, 
The  Baltimore  Convention  of  1844 — Govi  Cass'  letter  read  in  that  Conven- 
tion— His  name  withdrawn  for  the  sake  of  union  and  harmony — Nomination  of 
James  K.  Polk— Gov.  Cass  supports  the  nomination — Meets  his  fellow  citizens 
in  various  parts  of  the  country  and  advocates  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk — Great 
Democratic  victory.  Page  209 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Magnitude  of  questions  before  Congress — Interest  felt  throughout  the  Union,  in 
the  election  of  Senators — The  sentiment  of  the  people,  in  regard  to  Gen.  Cass' 
election  to  the  Senate — His  election  by  the  Legislature  of  Michigan — His  first 
act  in  the  Senate,  evinces  his  keen  watchfulness  over  the  rights  and  honor  of 
his  country — Resolutions  of  Senator  Allen — Gen.  Cass  supports  them — His  re- 
marks thereon — The  Oregon  question — The  great  interests  involved  in  its  set- 
tlement— The  recommendations  of  the  President — Resolution  of  Mr.  Allen, 
giving  notice  that  convention  of  1827,  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  be  annulled  and  abrogated — Speech  of  Gen.  Cass,  in  regard  to  our 
defences — His  remarks  thereon.  Page  226 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

The  Slavery  question — Position  of  Gen.  Cass — The  Wilmot  Proviso  and  Mexican 
War — Remarks  of  Gen.  Cass  in  the  Senate,  February  10th,  1847,  on  the  appro- 
priation of  three  millions  to  bring  the  war  with  Mexico  to  a  close — His  remarks 
on  voting  against  the  adoption  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso — Gen.  Cass'  letter  to 
A.  O.  P.Nicholson,  of  Tennessee — His  desire  for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
war — Tribute  of  praise  to  the  Army  in  Mexico— Origin  of  the  war. 

Page      302 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Appropriations  for  Improvement  of  Rivers  and  Harbors — Difficulties  surround- 
ing the  question  of  the  right  of  Congress  to  make  such  appropriations — Gen. 
Cass'  opinions  on  that  subject — He  sustains  the  position  of  Gen.  Jackson — 
Proceedings  in  the  Senate — Remarks  and  Vote  of  Gen.  Cass — Further  remarks 
— Chicago  Convention — Its  object — Foresight  of  Gen.  Cass  in  anticipatiag  the 
results  of  that  Convention — His  letter  declining  an  invitation  to  attend  it— Un- 
just and  unfounded  inferences  drawn  from  the  letter — Gen.  Cass'  exposition  of 
hi«  views  on  the  Constitutional  right  of  Congress  to  make  Appropriations  for 
the  Improvement  of  Rivers  and  Harbors,  delivered  in  the  Senate,  March,  1851. 

Page      334 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Gen.  Cass 

them  to  the  Un 


'  sympathy  for  the  patriots  of  the  old  world  —  His  readiness  to  welcome 
em  o  the  United  States  —  His  participation  with  the  Citizens  of  Washington, 
in  expressing  their  congratulations  at  the  success  of  the  people  of  France  in  the 
late  Revolution  —  Extract  from  his  remarks  on  that  occasion  —  His  vote  in  the 
Senate  on  the  resolution  of  congratulation  —  His  resolution  to  suspend  diplom- 
atic intercourse  with  Austria  —  His  remarks  on  the  Bill  offering  aid  to  Ireland  — 
His  vote  on  the  Bill  —  He  supports  the  Bill  authorizing  the  temporary  occupa- 
tion of  Yucatan.  Page  349 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


Course  of  General  Cass  in  the  Senate  meets  with  approval  from  the  people — Con 
vention  at  Baltimore  in  1848 — Hunkers  and  Barnburners — Votes  in  Convention 
— Gen.  Cass  nominated  for  the  Presidency — Remarks  of  Mr.  Stevenson  Presi- 
dent of  the  Convention — Gen.  Cass'  letter  of  acceptance — Baltimore  Resolu- 
tions— Gen.  Cass  resigns  his  seat  in  the  Senate — His  reception  by  the  people, 
on  his  route  home — Campaign  of  1848 — Position  of  Mr.  Van  Buren — The  Utica 
Convention — Buffalo  Convention — Bitterness  of  the  opponents  of  the  democra- 
tic party  against  Gen.  Cass — Characteristics  of  the  contest — Confidence  of  the 
democratic  party  in  their  candidates.  Page  35G 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


Effects  of  defeat  in  1848 — Increased  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  political 
views  of  Gen.  Case — He  is  re-elected  to  the  Senate — First  session  of  the  thirty- 
first  Congress — Importance  of  the  questions  before  it — The  feeling  of  the  south 
— Course  of  ultra  politicians — Efforts  of  Compromise — Propositions  of  Messrs. 
Clay  and  Bell — Mr.  Foote's  Resolution — Gen.  Cass'  remarks — Remarks  in  re- 
ply to  Mr.  Berrien — Report  and  Bill  of  committee  of  thirteen — Amendments  to 
the  bill — Opposition  to  the  admission  of  California — Remarks  of  Gen.  Cass — 
The  "  Fugitive  Slave  ''  bill — Suggestions  of  Gen.  Cass  in  relation  to  it — Com- 
promise measures — Their  effects — Efforts  of  Gen.  Cass  and  other  eminent  men 
to  create  a  sound  state  of  feeling  in  regard  to  slavery — His  remarks  at  a  public 
meeting  in  the  city  of  New  York — Extract  from  his  letter  to  the  Democratic 
Union  festival,  at  Baltimore — His  action  on  the  slavery  question  approved  by 
the  people — Repeal  of  Resolutions  of  Instruction  by  the  Legislature  of  Michi- 
igan— Unanimous  re-election  of  Gen.  Cass  by  the  Legislature  of  Michigan,  in 
February,  1851.  Page  370 


CONTENTS.  XT 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

* 

Gen.  Cass'  acquirements  and  literary  standing — His  power  as  a  writer — His  com* 
mand  of  language — Contributions  to  the  Reviews — His  sketches  of  Indian 
character — His  exposure  of  the  frauds  and  inaccuracies  of  certain  writers  of  In- 
dian History — His  account  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans — His  travels  in  the 
East — Extract  from  North  American  Review — His  addresses  on  several  occa- 
sions— Extract — Extracts  from  his  address  before  the  New  England  Society  of 
Michigan — •'  France,  its  King,  Court  and  Government — Extract  from  addretc 
before  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Michigan— His  personal  appearance,  &c. — 
Conclusion.  Page  410 


LIFE 

OF 

GENERAL  LEWIS  CASS 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory  Remarks — Birth  of  Mr.  Cass — His  Parentage — Education — He  emi- 
grates to  Ohio — Enters  upon  the  Practice  of  the  Law — His  SUCCPSS — Volun- 
teers in  Defence  of  the  Frontier — War  of  1812 — Invasion  of  Canada — Col. 
Cass'  heroic  conduct  in  Canada — Defeats  a  party  of  British  Soldiers  ne  ar 
Maiden — Secures  an  Important  Post — Orders  of  Gen.  Hull — Is  compelled  to 
give  up  the  ad  vantages  of  his  conquest,  and  return  with  the  army  to  Detroit. 

THE  record  of  the  deeds  of  an  individual,  who  by  his  own  per- 
sonal effort,  the  energy  of  his  spirit  and  the  force  of  his  talents, 
has  raised  himself  to  a  conspicuous  and  prominent  position  among 
his  countrymen,  is  the  best  incentive  that  the  young  men  of  our 
country  c#n  have  placed  before  them.  The  following  is  a  biogra- 
phy of  one,  who,  of  himself,  has  risen  from  the  station  of  the  hum- 
blest citizen,  to  that  of  the  first  statesman  of  his  country,  scarcely 
less  known  and  celebrated  among  the  Great  Powers  of  Europe, 
than  in  his  own  country,  and  wherever  known,  commanding  atten- 
tion, esteem  and  respect. 

The  pages  which  follow,  are  but  a  brief  and  unpretending  nar- 
rative of  the  most  marked  events  in  the  life  of  Lewis  Cass,  and 
as  such,  the  reader  will  please  receive  them. 

Lewis  Cass  was  born  at  Exeter,  in  New  Hampshire,  on  the  9th 
of  October,  1782.  His  father,  Jonathan  Cass  was  a  practical  me- 
chanic, and  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolutionary  war  was 
industriously  pursuing  his  occupation  in  a  quiet  village  of  New 
England.  But  the  first  shot  which  proclaimed  hostilities  between 
the  mother  country  and  the  colonies,  awakened  his  patriotism,  and 
arranging  his  private  affairs  as  speedily  as  possible,  he  joined  the 


18  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

army  of  patriots  on  the  day  after  the  battle  of  Lexington  and 
served  under  (Sen..  Washington  in  the  most  memorable  contests  of 
the  war.  He  tn<1  his  brother  l>aniel  fought  side  by  side  at  Bun- 
ker Hill,  one.  b.^iig  ^sergeant  and  the -other  a  corporal  in  the  ar- 
my. Jonathan  Cas.s  u  as  at  MortKiouch,  Trenton,  Princeton,  Ger- 
mantown  and  Saratoga.  His  services  were  rewarded  with  a  Ma- 
jor's commission  in  Wayne's  army,  whose  scene  of  operation  was 
to  be  in  the  defence  of  the  western  portion  of  the  Union.  To 
that  region  he  removed  from  his  New  England  home,  and  when 
further  labors  in  his  country's  service  were  no  longer  required,  he 
settled  down  to  pass  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  upon  land  ac- 
quired by  his  own  bravery,  on  the  Muskingum  river,  in  Ohio ; 
where  he  lived  for  many  years  and  died  respected  by  all,  having 
been  permitted  to  witness  the  rising  greatness  of  his  son  Lewis, 
who  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death  had  been  for  thirteen  years 
Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan. 

The  foundation  of  Lewis  Cass'  education  was  laid  at  the  Exeter 
Academy,  where  he  received  a  classical  education  of  a  high  order. 
Distinguished  in  his  school-boy  days  for  his  ardent  desire  for  learn- 
ing, he  applied  himself  studiously  to  the  acquirement  of  knowledge, 
and  in  a  short  time  was  competent  to  take  charge  of  an  academic 
institution  at  Wilmington,  in  Delaware.  He  remained  at  the  head 
of  the  Wilmington  academy  until  he  determined  to  accomplish 
what  had  for  some  time  been  his  wish — to  make  his  home  in  the 
Great  WTest,  where  he  might  grow  up  with  that  region  of  country 
about  which  he  had  obtained  information  which  satisfied  him  that 
at  no  distant  time,  it  would  form  a  very  important  portion  of  the 
American  Union. 

Accordingly,  we  find  him,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  in  the  year 
1799,  crossing  the  Alleghanies  on  foot,  carrying  his  knapsack  and 
seeking,  unaided,  and  without  the  help  of  wealth  or  power,  a  new 
home  in  the  wilderness  of  Ohio.  His  steps  were  directed  to  Ma- 
rietta, a  small  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum.  Here 
he  commenced  the  study  of  law,  and  entered  upon  its  practice. 
At  the  bar  he  acquired  a  reputation  which  placed  him  among  the 
eminent  lawyers  of  the  west.  In  the  pursuit  of  his  profession  he 
was  subjected  to  all  the  inconveniences  and  hardships  of  the  wil- 
derness, being  often  required  to  travel  on  an  Indian  trail  through 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  19 

dense  forests  to  the  places  where  the  courts  were  held,  which  in 
those  days  were  wherever  the  exigency  of  the  moment  fixed  them. 
He  was  often  called  to  try  his  powers  in  opposition  to  men  of  es- 
tablished fame  in  the  courts  of  the  state,  and  the  success  which  is 
said  to  have  attended  his  efforts  proves  that  he  wa?  able  to  cope 
with  the  able  and  eloquent  lawyers  who  were  then  regarded  as  the 
leaders  of  the  profession  in  the  Northwest.  His  fame  as  a  lawyer 
spread  through  the  country,  and  the  unfortunate  pioneer  who  be- 
came entangled  in  the  meshes  of  the  law,  looked  upon  his  release 
as  certain,  if  he  could  secure  the  advocacy  of  Lewis  Cass.  In  the 
case  of  impeachment  of  Judge  Brown,  one  of  the  presiding  Cir- 
cuit Judges  in  1812,  Mr.  Cass  was  employed  by  the  Judge  to  de- 
fend him  on  his  trial  before  the  Senate  of  Ohio.  The  state  had 
engaged  the  celebrated  Henry  Baldwin,  of  Pittsburgh,  to  prosecute 
the  articles  of  impeachment.  The  novelty  of  the  case — the  stand- 
ing and  character  of  all  concerned — accusers,  court,  accused  and 
counsel,  created  great  interest  in  the  trial,  and  attracted  a  large 
concourse  of  people  at  the  capitol,  to  hear  the  proceedings.  Bald- 
win was  a  man  of  great  powers,  and  when  he  closed  his  speech 
against  the  accused,  the  friends  of  the  latter  feared  that  his  elo- 
"quence  and  argument  had  closed  the  door  of  hope  upon  the  Judge 
and  secured  his  conviction.  But  the  young  advocate  for  the  de- 
fendant rose  amid  the  stillness  and  breathless  anxiety  of  the  mass 
of  human  beings  who  filled  the  capitol,  and  in  a  speech  of  tremen 
dous  power,  in  which  he  seemed  to  concentrate  his  whole  being, 
swept  away  the  apparently  immoveable  barrier  raised  by  the  elo- 
quent Baldwin  against  the  acquittal  of  the  defendant,  and  secured 
the  victory  for  his  client. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-five,  Lewis  Cass  was  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  Ohio,  then  just  admitted  as  a  State.  Here  he  was  not 
less  conspicuous  for  his  powers  both  as  a  speaker  and  writer,  than 
for  the  readness  of  perception  which  characterized  his  compre- 
hension of  subjects  brought  to  his  notice.  He  was  placed  at  the 
head  of  important  committees,  and  though  the  youngest  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  he  was  unanimously  regarded  as 
the  leader  of  his  party.  The  defection  and  exposure  of  the  con- 
spiracy of  Aaron  Burr,  brought  the  young  legislator  into  more 


20  LIKE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

conspicuous  notice,  and  made  his  name  and  patriotism  objects  of 
national  interest.  Ohio  was  then,  in  1806,  the  scene  of  Aaron 
Burr's  incipient  operations,  where  he  attempted  to  raise  men  and 
means  for  his  expedition.  His  progress  was  arrested  by  the 
prompt  and  decisive  action  of  Mr.  Cass,  who  drew  up  the  law 
which  put  an  end  to  Burr's  designs.  The  Legislature  of  Ohio  for- 
warded to  President  Jefferson  an  address  on  the  occasion,  written 
fcy  Mr.  Cass,  which  is  replete  with  the  noblest  sentiments  that  can 
animate  the  bosom  of  an  American  citizen,  setting  forth  with  the 
•eloquence  of  <i  true  heart,  the  inestimable  advantages  of  Union — 
the  safety  which  exists  only  in  a  reliance  upon  the  patriotism  of 
the  people,  and  their  capacity  to  preserve  inviolate  the  sacred  con- 
tract which  binds  the  States  together  in  the  Federal  Union.  This 
decisive  and  energetic  act  of  Mr.  Cass  was  pronounced  by  Mr. 
Jefferson  to  be  i\\&  first  blow  given  to  the  dangerous  and  treasona- 
ble schemes  of  the  gifted  but  disappointed  politician  who  sought 
to  revenge  his  fancied  wrongs,  by  subverting  the  good  order  and 
government  of  the  people  who  had  honored  him,  not,  it  is  true, 
to  the  extent  of  his  ambition,  by  bestowing  upon  him  the  second 
office  of  the  Republic. 

In  March,  1807,  President  Jefferson  appointed  Mr.  Cass,  Mar- 
shal of  Ohio.  In  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  this  most  re- 
sponsible office,  he  was  engaged  until  hostilities  of  the  Indians 
rendered  it  necessary  to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  the  inhabitants 
on  the  frontier.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1811,  the  Indians 
instigated  by  the  British  officers  at  Maiden,  in  Canada,  to  attempt 
to  recover  the  lands  they  had  ceded  to  the  Americans  by  treaty, 
attacked  the  American  camp  on  the  Wabash.  This  aroused  the 
patriotic  inhabitants  of  Kentucky  and  Ohio,  and  they  voluntered 
to  march  to  the  defence  of  the  frontier.  Mr.  Cass  was  among  the 
foremost  who  reached  Dayton,  the  place  of  rendezvous.  Here  he 
was  by  acclamation  elected  Colonel  of  the  third  regiment  of  Ohio 
volunteers. 

Other  influences,  however,  were  at  work,  which  afforded  a  more 
extended  field  of  action  for  the  ardent  soldier  who  had  so  eagerly 
enrolled  his  name  among  the  defenders  of  his  country. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1812,  it  was  anticipated  that  the 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  21 

peaceful  relations  existing  between  the  United  States  and  England 
would  soon  be  terminated  by  a  declaration  of  war,  forced  by  the 
repeated  and  continued  aggressions  of  the  latter. 

Acting  upon  the  preservative  principle,  "  in  peace  prepare  for 
war,"  Congress  adopted  measures  for  the  incr6ase  of  the  army. 
As  it  was  probable,  in  the  event  of  war,  that  the  frontiers  border- 
ing upon  the  British  Provinces,  would  be  the  principal  theatre  of 
hostilities  on  land,  the  attention  of  government  was  directed  to 
their  protection.  A  call  was  made  upon  the  Governor  of  Ohio  for 
a  draft  of  militia  and  volunteers,  for  the  service  of  the  United  States. 
Col.  Kingsbury,  of  the  1st  regiment,  U.  S.  Infantry,  was  designa- 
ted as  the  commander  of  the  force,  and  was  ordered  to  Washing- 
ton to  receive  his  instructions.  Sickness,  at  that  place,  prevented 
him  assuming  his  post,  and  General  William  Hull — who  had  ac- 
quired a  high  reputation  in  the  revolutionary  army,  and  who  was 
then  at  Washington — was  appointed  a  Brigadier  General,  and  was 
assigned  to  the  command  of  the  north-western  army.  Gen.  Hull 
was,  at  that  time,  civil  Governor  of  the  territory  of  Michigan.  It 
was  with  some  reluctance  that  he  accepted  the  military  command. 
This  was  in  April  1812.  The  military  force  was  raised  for  a  dou- 
ble object :  to  act  against  the  British  in  Canada,  if  there  should  be 
war,  and  to  suppress  hostilities  from  the  Indians  in  the  Territory 
of  Michigan. 

The  Militia  of  Ohio,  under  the  order  of  Gov.  Meigs,  were,  in  a 
very  short  time,  prepared  to  march.  They  rendezvoused  at  Day- 
ton, to  the  number  of  1200,  and,  marching  from  there  to  Urbana, 
were  joined  by  300  men  of  the  4th  United  States  Regiment.  The 
third  regiment  of  Ohio  militia  and  volunteers,  was  commanded  by 
Col.  Lewis  Cass.  Early  in  June,  the  army  left  Urbana  for  Detroit, 
distance  more  than  200  miles.  Previous  to  commencing  their  march 
Col.  Cass  addressed  his  fellow  soldiers,  urging  upon  them  the  ne- 
cessity of  performing  their  duty  to  their  country,  and  setting  forth 
in  glowing  colors  the  honor  and  fame  to  be  acquired  by  a  success- 
ful campaign.  The  way  led  through  a  wilderness  requiring  the 
opening  of  roads  and  the  construction  of  bridges  and  causeways. 
The  soldiers  were  zealous  in  the  cause  which  they  had  espoused, 
and  bore  the  labors  and  fatigues  of  the  march  with  heroism  and 
patience.  For  the  protection  of  the  country,  and  the  use  and  con- 


22  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

venience  of  the  army,  they  erected  a  number  of  block  houses  on 
the  route.  These  were  of  great  service  to  the  invalids  of  the  army, 
some  of  whom  were  worn  down  by  the  great  and  arduous  difficul- 
ties of  the  march. 

While  the  army  was  on  the  march  to  Detroit,  there  were,  ne- 
cessarily, but  few  opportunities  for  drilling  the  soldiers.  Indeed 
there  appears  to  have  been  culpable  inattention  to  that  important 
part  of  military  education.  But  it  is  mentioned,  by  those  who 
were  the  companions  of  Col.  Cass,  that  he  availed  himself  of  every 
opportunity  of  drilling  his  regiment  and  accustoming  them  to  move- 
ments and  evolutions,  upon  the  proper  execution  of  which,  battles 
have  been  often  won.  When  the  army  halted  for  any  length  of 
time,  after  they  were  sufficiently  recruited,  Col.  Cass  would  have 
his  regiment  on  parade.  The  men  thought  the  more  of  him  for 
the  interest  he  showed  for  their  instruction.  It  would  have  been 
different,  had  he  merely  been  content  with  issuing  his  orders,  and 
entrusted  their  performance  to  his  subalterns.  That  he  did  not 
do.  He  was  on  the  ground  himself;  on  the  very  spot  where  he 
should  be.  He  required  nothing  of  his  soldiers,  which  he  was  not 
willing  to  do  himself.  Seeing  him  thus  zealous  in  the  cause  in 
which  he  had  embarked,  the  soldiers  could  not  help  being  influ- 
enced by  his  example.  A  laudable  emulation  for  excellence  in 
martial  acquirements  thus  became  infused  throughout  his  regi- 
ment, and  with  that  spirit  grew  an  attachment  to  their  leader,  which 
was  attended  with  the  happiest  results.  Kind,  yet  strict,  he  was 
loved  and  respected  by  all  under  his  command.  He  had  been  cho- 
sen, by  acclamation,  to  lead  them,  and  they  were  willing  to  obey 
his  orders,  and  follow  him  to  the  cannon's  mouth.  There  was  not 
between  him,  and  the  obscure  volunteer  in  the  ranks,  that  broad 
and  deep  abyss,  over  which  neither  could  pass,  and  throw  aside 
the  strict  etiquette  of  military  distinctions.  He  could  sit  beside 
the  sick  or  wounded  soldier,  and  administer  to  the  wants  of  the 
unfortunate,  without  feeling  himself  humiliated  by  the  act,  or  his 
rank  degraded  by  the  humanity,  which  was  moved  by  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  private  soldier.  He  could  talk  with  him  as  man  to 
man,  of  the  common  occurrences  of  the  day,  without  lessening  his 
influence,  or  hazarding  obedience  to  his  orders.  Nor  did  he  con- 
sider it  unbecoming  his  station  as  an  officer,  to  dismount  from  his 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  23 

horse  and  march  on  foot  at  the  head  of  his  regiment,  while  the 
wearied  soldier,  sinking  with  fatigue  or  illness,  was  placed  upon 
the  seat  his  commander  vacated.  Such  acts  as  these  endeared  him 
to  his  men,  and  made  him  the  most  popular  and  esteemed,  and  best 
obeyed  officer  in  the  army.  When  the  army  reached  the  forks  of 
the  Miami,  Gen.  Hull  chartered  a  small  vessel  to  transport  to  De- 
troit the  heavy  baggage  and  such  of  the  sick  as  required  rest  and 
an  easier  mode  of  travel.  This  vessel  was  captured  by  an  armed1 
force,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Detroit  river,  sent  from  the  British  fort 
at  Maiden.  War  had  been  declared  by  the  United  States  while 
Hull  and  his  army  were  in  the  woods,  and  information  had  reach- 
ed the  enemy's  post  at  Maiden,  before  it  was  known  to  Gen.  Hull 
or  any  of  his  officers.  Gen.  Hull  had  previously  received  a  com- 
munication, bearing  date  on  the  18th  of  June,  the  day  that  war 
was  declared,  directing  him  to  proceed  to  Detroit  with  all  possible 
expedition.  It  was  probably  written  previous  to  and  just  on  the 
eve  of  the  formal  act,  declaring  hostilities  to  exist.  On  the  2d  day 
of  July,  he  received  notice  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  that  war 
had  been  declared.  This  communication,  also,  bore  date  on  the 
18th  of  June,  but,  by  some  means  never  ascertained  or  accounted 
for,  it  was  fourteen  days  on  its  route,  and  did  not  reach  him  until 
five  days  after  the  event  was  communicated  to  the  officers  at  Mai- 
den, and  not  until  the  day  after  the  vessel  had  sailed  from  the  Mi- 
ami, with  the  invalids  and  baggage. 

The  route  to  Detroit  passed  along  the  margin  of  the  Detroit 
river,  and  through  an  Indian  village,  nearly  opposite  the  British 
fort.  War  existing,  it  was  supposed  that  our  soFdiers  would  be  at- 
tacked and  annoyed  by  detachments  from  that  garrison.  But  such 
was  not  the  case :  the  army  continued  its  march  and  arrived  at 
Detroit  on  the  5th  of  July,  where  it  remained  until  the  12th  of 
July,  when  it  crossed  the  river  into  Canada.  It  was  supposed  that 
Gen.  Hull  would  proceed  at  once  and  capture  Maiden.  His  officers 
and  men  were  alive  for  the  expedition.  It  was,  to  the  extreme  of 
military  propriety,  urged  upon  the  commanding  General  by  his  as- 
sociates and  subordinates  in  command,  but  these  suggestions  had 
no  effect  other  than  to  cause  him  to  make  preparations,  ostensibly 
for  the  attack  on  Maiden.  Col.  Cass,  who  had  recently  been  at 
Maiden,  was  satisfied  that  the  fort  there  was  not  defensible  against 


24  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

a  well  directed  and  vigorous  attack  from  our  army.     He  was  ar- 
d^frtly  desirous  that  the  army  should  march  forthwith  to  that  point. 
In  this  he  was  not  alone;    other  officers  as  well  as  th  •  men,  were 
solicitous  for  the  expedition.     They  considered  it  a  part  of  the  du- 
ty they  had  come  there  to  perform,  and  did  not  understand  why 
they  were  held  back.     Gen.  Hull  himself,  could  not  be  otherwise 
than  convinced  that  the  possession  of  Maiden,  would  be  holding 
the  key  of  the  whole   campaign ;    for,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  the 
Sec.  of  War,  he  says  :  that  possessing  Maiden,  he  could  march  his 
army  through  Canada,  to  York  or  Niagara,  in  a  very  short  time. 
Nothing  could  have  been  easier   than  to  have  taken  the  place. 
When  the  army  crossed  over,  according  to  Gen.  Hull's  official  re- 
port of  the  affair,  one  hundred  British  regulars,  six  hundred  mili- 
tia, and  seven  or  eight  hundred  Indians,  fled  at  his  approach  from 
Sandwich  to  Maiden.     The  crossing  was  effected  on  the  night  of 
the  llth,  from  the  point  known  as  Bloody  Bridge,  a  mile  above  the 
town.    The  movement  was  admirably  performed,  and  was  pronoun- 
ced by  the  General  to  be  honorable  to  the  officers  and  men.     In 
less  than  five  minutes  after  the  first  boat  struck  the  shore,  the  whole 
regiment  was  formed.     Col.  Cass  was  the  first  man  of  the  army  to 
step  foot  on  the  enemy's  shore.     Many  of  his  companions  were 
emulous  of  being  the  first  to  lead  the  way,  but  the  honor  of  so  do- 
ing was  achieved  by  the  gallant  Colonel.     Upon  the  landing  of  the 
army,  Gen.  Hull  issued  his  proclamation  to  the  inhabitants  of  Can- 
ada, promising  them  protection  if  they  would  join  his  standard. 
Numbers  of  them  did  so,  and  of  those  who  did  not,  many  returned 
to  their  homes.     The  day  after  the  crossing,  entrenchments  were 
thrown  up  around  the  encampment  and  pickets  erected  on  the  bank 
side  of  it.     Here  the  army  remained,  mostly  in  a  state  of  inactiv- 
ity, in  expectation  of  being  moved  to  Maiden.     In  regard  to  the 
siege  of  that  place,   consultations  were  held  almost  daily  among 
the  officers,  called  together  by  Gen.  Hull.     A  majority  were  always 
of  opinion  that  no  delay  should  occur  in  regard  to  it.     Gen.  Hull 
was  unwilling  to  proceed  without  a  number  of  heavy  guns,  which 
unfortunately  were  out  of  repair,  requiring  to  be  mounted.     Unu- 
sual delay  attended  the  preparation  of  the  artillery.     The  General 
himself  seemed  unable  to  say  when  they  would  be  ready.     In  the 
mean  lime,  news  arrived  of  the  surrender  of  Mackinac.     Some 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  25 

days  after,  Gen.  Hull  convened  a  counsel  of  officers,  to  consider 
whether  it  would  be  better  to  wait  a  few  days  longer,  for  the  heavy 
guns,  or  proceed  without  them  to  Maiden.  It  was  apprehended 
that  there  would  be  difficulty  in  getting  the  guns  over  the  river  aux 
Canards,  which  lay  between  the  army  and  Maiden.  Time  was 
consumed  in  forming  plans  and  making  preparations  for  the  attack. 
Nothing  was  done,  and  after  remaining  nearly  a  month  in  the  ene- 
my's country,  Gen.  Hull  on  the  eighth  of  August  in  despite  of  the 
earnest  entreaties  of  his  officers,  and  to  their  great  mortification, 
and  the  disappointment  of  the  men,  ordered  the  army  to  retreat, 
by  recrossing  the  river  to  Detroit,  which  it  did.  The  men  were 
dispirited  by  this  abandonment  of  the  advantage  they  had  so  labo- 
riously gained.  The  officers  were  disgusted  with  the  indecisive, 
wavering  conduct  of  the  commanding  general,  though  they  were 
obedient  to  his  orders,  yet  some  of  them  refused  to  participate  any 
further  in  his  counsels,  and  declined  expressing  any  opinion  as  to 
the  movements  of  the  army. 

Although  Gen.  Hull  did  not  engage  with  his  main  army  in  any 
offensive  operations  while  he  remained  in  Canada,  yet  some  of  his 
officers,  unwilling  to  pass  the  time  in  total  inactivity,  obtained  from 
him  permission  to  reconnoitre  the  country,  and  obtain  such  know- 
ledge of  the  condition  of  things,  as  might  be  of  benefit,  when  the 
army  should  move  against  Maiden.  For  this  purpose  Col.  Cass, 
on  the  17th  of  August,  led  a  detachment  towards  Maiden,  to  exam- 
ine the  enemy's  advanced  posts.  He  feund  them  in  possession  of 
a  bridge  at  the  river  Aux  Canards,  about  four  miles  east  of  the 
fort.  Col.  Cass  stationed  a  company  of  riflemen  near  the  bridge 
bn  the  east  side  of  the  river  and  then  proceeded  with  the  rest  of 
his  troops  to  cross  the  river  at  a  ford  five  miles  above,  the  only 
crossing  that  was  known.  He  succeeded  in  reaching  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river  and  marching  along  the  easterly  bank  of  the  riv- 
er arrived  about  sunset  in  sight  of  the  bridge.  A  nearer  ap- 
proach to  the  enemy  at  this  point  was  prevented  by  an  impassable 
creek.  Col.  Cass  moved  along  the  bank  of  the  creek,  in  search 
of  a  fordable  spot,  and  found  one  about  a  mile  distant  from  the 
spot  where  he  was  intercepted.  The  enemy  had  seen  the  detach- 
ment during  this  last  movement,  and  had  time  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  defence.  By  the  time  Col.  Cass  had  crossed  the  creek 


26  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CABS. 

and  arrived  within  point  of  attack,  they  were  formed  in  line  and 
commenced  a  fire  upon  him.  He  led  his  force  directly  against 
them  and  drove  them  from  the  bridge  at  the  first  onset.  After  re- 
treating, they  formed  again  and  he  again  threw  them  into  confusion. 
They  were  re-inforced  from  the  fort,  and  as  often  as  they  formed 
for  defence,  Col.  Cass  broke  their  ranks,  and  forced  them  to  re- 
treat. He  pursued  them  until  it  became  so  dark  that  pursuit  was 
relinquished.  A  number  of  the  enemy  were  killed  and  some  pris- 
oners taken.  The  whole  affair  was  conducted  with  bravery  and 
skill ;  the  daring  and  courage  of  the  officers  were  nobly  seconded 
by  the  alacrity  and  readiness  of  the  men.  A  verbal  message  was 
sent  to  Gen.  Hull  notifying  him  of  the  important  advantage  ob- 
tained by  Col.  Cass,  stating  that  the  possession  of  the  bridge 
opened  the  way  for  our  army  to  subdue  Maiden.  Gen.  Hull  did 
not  agree  with  Col.  Cass  as  to  the  expediency  of  retaining  occu- 
pation of  the  bridge,  but  peremptorily  ordered  him  to  return  to 
camp.  Reluctant  to  abandon,  without  further  effort,  the  immense 
military  benefit  which  he  had  obtained,  Col.  Cass  and  his  officers 
remonstrated  with  Gen.  Hull  in  a  written  communication.  But 
that  officer  would  not  yield  his  opinion  or  retract  from  his  position, 
blindly  ass  med.  He  was,  however,  so  far  impressed  by  the  ob- 
vious trnths  of  the  arguments  of  his  officers,  as  to  refer  the  subject 
to  the  discretion  of  Col.  Cass  and  the  officers  with  him,  still  ex- 
pressing his  disinclination  to  keep  possession  of  the  bridge,  be- 
cause the  cannon  wanted  for  the  anticipated  attack  upon  Maiden, 
were  not  ready  for  transportation.  Col.  Cass  and  his  associates 
thus  placed  in  a  novel  position  by  the  indecision  of  the  command- 
ing general,  held  a  council,  as  to  what  course  should  be  adopted. 
The  council  regarding  the  question  as  one  of  military  discipline, 
by  a  majority  resolved  to  abandon  the  bridge.  Col.  Cass  did  not 
accede  to  this  decision,  but  with  Capt.  Snelling  insisted  upon  re- 
maining there.  Finding  themselves  in  a  minority  on  this  point 
they  were  obliged  to  yield,  and  the  detachment  in  accordance  with 
the  orders  of  Gen.  Hull  returned  to  his  head  quarters. 

Knowledge,  afterwards  obtained,  established,  beyond  doubt,  the 
correctness  of  the  views  of  those  officers  who  urged  an  immediate 
assault  upon  the  British  works  at  Maiden.  During  the  visit  of 
Gol.  Cass,  with  the  flag  of  truce,  at  that  place,  before  the  army 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  ,  27 

moved  into  Canada,  its  indefensible  condition  was  apparent.  Hence 
his  earnest  entreaties,  and  unwavering  desire  for  its  capture.  From 
the  enemy's  own  statements,  it  appears  that  they  did  not  believe 
the  place  could  be  defended  against  the  vigorous  attack  of  a  de- 
termined enemy,  and  the  commanding  officer  had  determined  to 
risk  the  fate  of  a  great  battle,  rather  than  the  hazard  of  a  siege- 
With  the  exception  of  the  powder  magazine,  the  works  were  prin- 
cipally of  wood,  covered  with  thin  pine  shingles,  and  could  not 
have  home  the  weight  of  shells  and  shot  which  would  have  been 
poured  upon  them. 

The  defeat  of  the  enemy  at  Aux  Canards,  and  the  capture  of  the 
bridge,  created  the  utmost  consternation  at  Maiden.  Preparations 
were  made  for  abandoning  it ;  but  when  it  was  ascertained  that 
the  American  General  did  not  intend  to  complete  what  Col.  Cass 
had  so  successfully  commenced,  all  fears  were  dispelled — the  citi- 
zens and  soldiers  increased  the  defence  of  the  town,  and  waited 
re-inforcements.  The  first  fatal  and  unfortunate  step  was  bnt  the 
precursor  of  other  fatalities  which  were  in  store  for  our  noble- 
hearted  volunteers,  who  only  wanted  opportunity  and  permission 
to  hew  their  enemies  down  before  them. 

To  Col.  Cass  belongs  the  honor,  not  only  of  being  the  first  man 
to  invade  the  enemy's  territory,  but  also  of  having  opened  the 
campaign  with  a  victory. 

The  return  of  the  detachment  from  Aux  Canards,  together  with 
that  of  Col.  McArthur  who  had  been  patrollng  the  country  in  the 
direction  of  the  river  TJiames — instead  of  infusing  courage  and 
activity  into  the  movements  of  the  commanding  general,  seemed  to 
increase  his  desire  to  get  back  to  Detroit  with  as  much  expedition 
as  he  could.  Having  called  a  council,  he  announced  his  purpose 
to  abandon  the  country  and  retreat  across  the  river.  Although  a 
majority  of  the  council  decided  upon  remaining  and  waiting  until 
the  ordnance  should  -be  got  ready  for  the  attack  on  Maiden — yet 
Gen.  Hull  ordered  his  own  opinion  to  be  carried  into  effect,  decla- 
ring that,  even  though  every  person  should  oppose  him,  he  was 
responsible,  and  would  act  agreeably  to  his  own  judgment.  Du- 
ring the  stay  of  the  army  in  Canada,  councils  were  called  every 
day,  and  the  General  was  urged  to  move  down  on  the  Aux  Ca- 
nards, or  proceed  at  once  to  Maiden.  From  these  repeated  ex- 


28  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

pressions  on  the  part  of  his  associates,  he  could  not  be  mistaken 
as  to  their  wishes  or  the  inclination  of  the  whole  army.  General 
Hull,  from  time  to  time,  yielded  to  the  advice  of  his  associates,  so 
far  to  remain  where  he  was,  and  make  preparations  ostensibly 
for  the  wished  for  attack  on  the  British  fort.  But  news  having  ar- 
rived of  the  fall  of  Mackinac,  apprehensions  of  a  descent  by  the 
great  number  of  Indians  supposed  to  have  been  on  the  upper  lakes, 
caused  the  General  to  suspend  further  operations  in  the  enemy's 
country,  except  to  erect  a  picket  fort,  in  which  he  would  leave  a 
small  detachment,  while  he  would  return  to  Detroit  with  the  main 
army.  The  gallant  Col.  McArthur,  whom  Gen.  Hull  proposed  to 
leave  in  command  of  this  picket,  was  so  indignant  at  the  obvious 
falsity  of  the  proposition,  that  he  could  not  refrain  from  telling  his 
commander,  that,  though  he  considered  it  a  hardship  that  his  re- 
giment should  be  so  sacrificed,  yet,  if  such  were  his  orders,  he 
would  obey, — and  that  while  the  result  must  inevitably  bring  defeat 
and  disgrace  upon  the  officers  and  soldiers  left  there,  it  might  serve 
to  avert  a  portion  of  the  General's  own  disgrace  for  recrossing  the 
river.  The  energetic  manner  of  Col.  McArthur,  temporarily 
aroused  the  drooping  spirits  of  the  commander,  and  he  issued  or- 
ders to  prepare  for  the  advance  upon  Maiden.  This  order  was  re- 
ceived by  all  with  the  utmost  pleasure,  and  a  confident  expectation 
spread  among  the  soldiers  that  the  commanding  General  would 
himself  lead  them  to  the  storming  of  the  place. 

Preparations  for  the  march  were  continued  until  the  middle  of 
the  day  following  the  issuing  of  the  orders,  when  Gen.  Hull  again 
changed  his  mind,  and  calling  his  officers  together,  told  them  that, 
notwithstanding  the  respect  he  entertained  for  their  opinions,  he 
considered  himself  responsible  for  the  movements  and  fate  of  the 
army,  and  had  come  to  the  determination  to  recross  the  river,  for 
the  protection  of  the  fort  and  town  of  Detroit.  The  order  was  gi- 
ven, and  the  army,  dispirited  and  dejected,  re-crossed  and  took 
post  at  the  back  of  the  town. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Battle  of  Brownstown — Battle  of  Maguaga — Col.  Cass  volunteers  to  accompany 
a  detachment  through  the  wilderness  to  the  River  Raisin — The  Surrender 
of  Detroit — The  detachment  ordered  to  return — Indignation  of  Colf>.  Cass  and 
McArthur — Their  Return  to  Detroit — Letter  of  Gov.  Meigs — Resolutions  of 
General  Assembly  of  Ohio — Official  Letter  of  Col.  Cass  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment. 

WHILE  Gen.  Hull  was  in  Canada,  he  received  information,  that 
a  company  of  Ohio  militia,  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Brush, 
had  reached  the  River  Raisin,  having  in  charge  a  number  of  beef 
cattle,  which  they  were  driving  to  the  garrison  at  Detroit,  and  fear- 
ing an  attack  from  the  Indians  and  British  at  Maiden,  were  wait- 
ing for  a  reinforcement  from  head  quarters.  It  was  reported  that 
a  body  of  savages  had  been  sent  across  the  Detroit  river  from  Mai- 
den, the  British  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  to  intercept  and  cut 
off  the  escort  on  its  march  to  Detroit.  Major  Van  Home,  of  Col. 
Findlay's  regiment,  was  therefore  ordered  to  take  a  detachment  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  riflemen,  and  some  militia,  who  had  remain- 
ed at  Detroit,  and  proceed  with  them,  by  a  back  route,  to  the  Rai- 
sin, to  meet  and  aid  the  escort  of  Capt.  Brush. 

Van  Home  crossed  the  river  from  Canada  on  the  night  of  the 
4th  of  August,  1812,  with  his  riflemen.  At  Detroit  he  collected 
fifty  militia  men,  and  commenced  his  march.  He  proceeded  a  few 
miles  beyond  the  river  Ecorce,  where  he  halted,  and  while  the  de- 
tachment was  at  rest,  he  went  among  the  inhabitants  to  get  infor- 
mation about  the  back  route,  which  his  instructions  directed  him 
to  take,  in  order  to  avoid  the  hazard  of  an  ambuscade  on  the  route 
through  the  village  of  Brownstown.  There  was  no  back  route 
known  to  any  of  the  people  living  in  the  vicinity ;  to  his  inquiries 
they  declared  that  they  never  heard  of  any.  Nor  could  he  procure 
guides  to  conduct  him  through  the  woods.  The  inhabitants  repre- 
sented the  country  to  be  one  vast  and  continuous  swamp,  and  that 
it  would  be  impossible  for  the  soldiers  to  get  through  to  the  Raisin 


30  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

by  that  way.  In  consequence  of  not  being  able  to  find  any  back 
route  or  procure  guides,  Major  Van  Home  was  compelled  to  take 
the  road  through  Brownstown.  When  the  detachment  arrived  near 
Brownstown  creek,  and  was  marching  through  a  small  space  of 
open  ground,  it  was  fired  upon  by  a  body  of  Indians  from  the 
woods.  No  enemy  was  seen,  but  most  terrific  yells  were  heard  in 
the  direction  of  the  attack.  Major  Van  Home  ordered  his  men  to 
retire  to  the  edge  of  the  woods  and  form  a  line.  The  troops  re- 
treated, firing  as  they  went.  Having  returned  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile,  a  line  was  formed,  and  a  fire  commenced  upon  the  Indians. 
The  soldiers  did  not  retreat  in  good  order,  and  became  greatly  dis- 
persed. In  the  skirmish,  eighteen  were  killed,  twelve  wounded ; 
and  about  seventy  were  missing,  who  fortunately  reached  Detroit 
in  safety.  Major  Van  Home  returned  with  his  detachment  to  De- 
troit. 

On  the  9th  of  August,  the  same  day  the  army  re-crossed  from 
Canada  to  Detroit,  another  attempt  was  made  to  open  a  communi- 
cation between  Detroit  and  the  Ohio  militia  at  the  Raisin.  For 
this  purpose  Col.  James  Miller,  who  commanded  the  fourth  regi- 
ment of  United  States  infantry  in  Gen  Hull's  army,  was  detached 
on  the  evening  of  the  8th  of  AugusJ,  with  six  hundred  men,  reg- 
ulars and  volunteers,  with  orders  to  join  the  escort  at  the  Raisin, 
and  march  it  to  Detroit.  While  on  the  march,  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  ninth,  Captain  Snelling,  who  commanded  the  advance  guard, 
came  upon  a  large  body  of  British  and  Indians,  near  Maguaga, 
drawn  up  in  regular  order  of  battle,  protected  by  a  thicket  of  un- 
der-brush, and  a  breastwork  of  logs  which  they  had  erected.  Capt. 
Snelling  was  some  distance  in  advance  of  the  detachment,  and 
bravely  fought  against  the  severe  and  murderous  attack  of  the 
enemy,  until  Col.  Miller  came  up  with  the  rest  of  the  force.  The 
soldiers  were  immediately  formed  into  line  for  attack.  Col.  Miller 
had  one  field  piece,  and  a  howitzer.  He  marched  his  troops  to 
within  a  short  distance  of  the  enemy,  fired,  and  then  charged  upon 
them  with  the  bayonet.  The  contest  was  honerable  to  the  Ameri- 
can force — particularly  to  the  Michigan  and  Ohio  volunteers,  who 
formed  most  of  the  detachment.  The  British  and  Indians  retreat- 
ed towards  Browntown,  and  succeeded  in  crossing  the  river  to 
Maiden.  Col.  Miller  pursued  them  until  night-fall,  when  darkness 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  31 

and  the  laborious  service  his  soldiers  had  performed,  compelled 
him  to  discontinue  the  pursuit.  Tn  this  engagement  the  force  of 
the  enemy  consisted  of  seven  hundred  and  forty — British  regulars, 
Canadian  militia  and  savages,  besides  a  number  of  Indians  belong- 
ing to  the  settlement  of  Brownstown.  The  injury  sustained  by  the 
detachment,  was  seventeen  men  killed  and  sixty-four  wounded. 
The  loss  on  the  enemy's  side  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  killed 
and  wounded. 

After  the  battle,  the  detachment  remained  a  few  days  at  Maguaga, 
waiting  provisions  from  Detroit,  which  had  been  sent  for — the  sol- 
diers having  before  the  engagement,  thrown  away  their  knapsacks 
which  contained  their -rations.  While  thus  waiting,  Col.  Miller 
received  an  order  from  Gen.  Hull,  to  return  with  his  men  to  De- 
troit, which  he  did,  without  having  accomplished  the  object  of  his 
expedition. 

The  troops  with  the  cattle,  still  remained  at  their  post  on  the 
River  Raisin,  awaiting  support  from  Detroit.  The  difficulties 
which  prevented  them  from  reaching  Detroit,  without  aid,  may  be 
better  understood,  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  usual  route,  and 
indeed  almost  the  only  passable  one,  between  them  and  the  garri- 
son, run  principally  along  the  northern  shore  of  the  Detroit  river. 
The  road  was  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire  from  the  opposite  shore, 
and  from  their  gun  boats  and  vessels  in  the  river  It  was  impos- 
sible to  proceed  on  that  route  without  being  annoyed  by  them.  The 
forces  at  the  Raisin  did  not  exceed  two  hundred  and  fifty  men — a 
few  of  them  regulars — the  main  body  being  militia  and  volunteers. 
They  were  liable  to  attack  where  they  were — and  it  was  a  matter 
of  no  small  moment  that  they  should  be  relieved.  It  was  there- 
fore determined  to  send  another  detachment  to  them,  by  a  circuit- 
ous route  through  the  interior  of  the  country,  and  a  number  of 
miles  distant  from  the  river.  Gen.  Hull  ordered  a  detachment  of 
three  hundred  and  fifty  men  for  that  purpose.  Col.  McArthur  was 
placed  in  command.  Col.  Cass  accompanied  them  as  a  volunteer. 
The  presence  of  this  brave  soldier  always  inspired  the  men  with 
more  than  usual  courage.  He  was  beloved  and  respected  by  them, 
as  well  for  his  courteous  and  affable  demeanor,  as  for  his  constant 
practice  of  sharing  with  them  the  privations  and  fatigues  of  ard\i- 
ous  and  difficult  service.  Wherever  there  was  aught  to  be  done, 


32  LIFE    OF     GENERAL    CASS. 

serviceable  to  his  country,  there  he  was  found,  with  men  rallying 
around  him,  eager  to  follow  him  in  any  deed  of  daring,  animated 
by  his  example  to  peril  all  to  the  last  extremity,  for  the  success  and 
glory  of  their  country's  flag. 

It  was  late  in  the  day  of  the  fourteenth  of  August,  when  Colonels 
McArthur  and  Cass  left  Detroit  with  the  detachment,  on  their  la- 
borious and  difficult  expedition.  So  short  was  the  time  between  the 
announcement  of  the  project,  and  the  moment  of  its  execution, 
that  the  detachment  were  forced  to  march  without  a  supply  of  pro- 
visions. Soon  after  their  departure,  an  event  occurred  which  ren- 
dered the  completion  of  the  enterprise  unnecessary,  and  determined 
Gen.  Hull  to  recall  them  to  Detroit.  The  particulars  of  this  event 
— THE  SURRENDER  OF  DETROIT — present  the  most  extraordinary 
and  unprecedented  instance  of  passive  submission  on  record.  The 
event  itself,  happening  at  the  outset  of  the  war,  without  even  a 
plausible  appearance  of  necessity,  excited  the  deepest  indignation 
in  every  mind  throughout  the  United  States,  capable  of  apprecia- 
ting its  disastrous  influence. 

When  Colonels  Cass  and  McArthur  marched  with  their  detach- 
ment from  Detroit,  it  was  supposed,  generally,  at  that  post,  that 
Gen.  Brock  the  acting  Governor,  and  Major  General,  commanding 
the  British  army  in  Upper  Canada,  was  stationed  at  Fort  George 
on  the  Niagara  frontier.  If  other  knowledge  of  his  position  was 
in  possession  of  any  person  in  the  American  army  of  the  north- 
west, it  was  carefully  kept  a  profound  secret.  The  supposition  as 
to  his  position  was  erroneous.  Gen.  Brock,  during  the  existence 
of  an  armistice  agreed  upon,  between  Gen.  Dearborn,  the  senior 
General  of  the  American  army,  and  Sir  George  Provost,  Governor 
General  and  commander  of  the  British  forces  in  both  the  Canadas, 
and  which  only  had  reference  to  the  movements  of  both  armies  on 
the  eastern  frontier,  had  moved  with  his  forces  by  a  rapid  marsh 
from  York  to  Maiden.  He  arrived  at  Maiden  on  the  fourteenth 
of  August,  1812,  and  on  the  next  day  marched  up  the  river  and 
took  post  at  Sandwich,  nearly  opposite  Fort  Detroit.  Here  he 
erected  batteries  and  other  works  indicating  an  intention  of  ma- 
king an  attack  on  the  fort.  No  attempt  was  made  to  drive  him 
from  his  position. 

At  about  noon  of  the  next  day,  the  15th,  a  boat  was  seen  to 


•      LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  „  33 

leave  the  Canadian  shore,  having  on  board  two  British  officers, 
bearing  a  flag  of  truce.  Upon  reaching  the  American  side,  the 
officers  landed  at  the  public  wharf  in  the  town  of  Detroit,  where 
they  were  received  by  Captains  Snelling  and  Fuller,  who  had  been 
directed  by  Col.  Miller  to  ascertain  the  object  of  their  visit.  They 
announced  themselves  to  be  Colonel  McDonald,  of  the  Canadian 
militia,  and  Captain  Glegg,  of  the  British  regulars,  aids  to  Gen 
Brock,  and  bearers  of  a  despatch  from  him  to  Gen.  Hull.  They 
were  blindfolded  and  conducted  to  the  house  of  Col,  H.  J.  Hunt, 
about  two  hundred  yards  from  the  fort,  where  they  were  detained 
until  their  despatches  could  be  delivered  to  Gen.  Hull,  and  an  an- 
swer received  from  him.  After  an  interval  of  some  hours,  Capt. 
Hull,  son  and  aid  to  the  General,  came  to  the  house  where  the 
officers  were,  bearing  the  reply  of  Gen.  Hull.  It  was  delivered  to 
them;  they  were  conducted  to  their  boat,  and  recrossed  the  river. 
It  soon  transpired  that  the  object  of  their  visit  was. to  present  to 
Gen.  Hull  a  formal  demand  from  Gen.  Brock  of  the  surrender  of 
Detroit.  This  news  spreading  among  the  citizens,  caused  consid- 
erable panic  and  confusion.  Anxiety  for  the  safety  of  their  fami- 
lies dwelt  in  every  mind.  No  one  dreamed  of  a  surrender — the 
feeling  of  the  moment  was  resistance,  and  moving  the  women  and 
children,  with  their  moveable  goods  and  furniture,  out  of  the  reach 
of  the  enemy's  guns.  They  expected  an  attack  and  were  pre- 
pared to  resist  it. 

The  arrival  of  the  British  officers,  and  the  report  that  Gen. 
Brock  had  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  post,  gave  the  first  in- 
timation to  the  citizens  and  soldiers  of  the  proximity  of  the  British 
General.  The  demand  of  surrender  was  in  the  following  terms : 

"  HEAD  QUARTERS,  SANDWICH,  Aug.  15,  1812. 

SIR  : — The  force  at  my  disposal  authorises  me  to  require  of 
you  the  immediate  surrender  of  Fort  Detroit.  It  is  far  from  my 
inclination  to  join  in  a  war  of  extermination  ;  but  we  must  be 
aware  that  the  numerous  body  of  Indians,  who  have  attached 
themselves  to  my  troops,  will  be  beyond  my  control  the  moment  the 
contest  commences.  You  will  find  me  disposed  to  enter  into  such 
conditions  as  will  satisfy  the  most  scrupulous  sense  of  honor. 
Lieut.  Col.  McDonald  and  Major  Glegg  are  fully  authorized  to 
conclude  any  arrangement  that  may  prevent  the  unnecessary  ef- 
fusion of  blood.  I  have  the  honor  to  be  your  obedient  servant, 
(Signed)  ISAAC  BROCK,  Major-Gen'l,  &c. 

His  Excellency,  Brigadier  Gen.  Hull,  &c." 


34  .        LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

To  this  letter,  Gen.  Hull  returned  the  following  decided  refusal 
to  comply  with  its  proposal,  although  the  latter  portions  of  the  re- 
ply appear  to  be  apologetic  for  some  transactions,  which  were  not 
nearly  so  offensive  as  the  insolent  demand  of  the  British  General : 

"  HEAD  QUARTERS,  DETROIT,  Aug.  15,  1812. 

SIR  : — I  have  no  other  reply  to  make  than  to  inform  you  that  I 
am  prepared  to  meet  any  force  which  may  be  at  your  disposal,  and 
any  consequences  which  may  result  from  any  exertion  of  it  you 
may  think  proper  to  make. 

I  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  inform  you,  that  the  flag 
of  truce,  under  the  direction  of  Captain  Brown,  proceeded  con- 
trary to  the  orders,  and  without  the  knowledge  of  Col.  Cass,  who 
commanded  the  troops  which  attacked  your  picket  near  the  river 
Canard  bridge. 

I  likewise  take  this  occasion  to  inform  you  that  Cowie's  house 
was  set  on  fire  contrary  to  my  orders,  and  it  did  not  take  place  un- 
til after  the  evacuation  of  the  Fort.  From  the  best  information  I 
have  been  able  to  form  on  the  subject,  it  was  set  on  fire  by  some 
of  the  inhabitants  on  the  other  side  of  the  river. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  Excellency's  most  obedient  servant, 
(Signed)  W.  HULL, 

•  Brigadier  General,  &c. 

His  Excellency  Maj.  Gen.  Brock,  &c." 

The  natural  supposition  of  every  man,  on  reading  that  part  of 
Gen.  Hull's  letter,  having  reference  to  the  haughty  and  offensive 
demand  of  Gen.  Brock,  would  be,  that  he  intended  to  oppose  to 
the  last  moment,  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  enemy  to  possess 
themselves  of  the  Fort,  and  would  yield  only  with  his  life,  the  flag 
of  his  country  to  the  invader.  How  then  in  comparison  with  the 
letter  and  spirit  of  his  answer  to  Gen.  Brock,  can  the  subsequent 
conduct  of  Gen  Hull  be  accounted  for,  unless  it  be  admitted  that 
he  was  afterwards  suddenly  smitten  with  fear  and  dismay,  by  the . 
very  first  step  taken  by  the  British  General  to  enforce  the  surren- 
der of  the  Fort  ? 

A  short  time  before  sunset  on  the  day  on  which  the  above  com- 
munications passed  between  the  two  Generals,  the  British,  who 
had  been  permitted  unmolested  to  erect  their  works  on  a  comman- 
in  g  point  of  ground  at  Sandwich,  commenced  firing  upon  Detroit. 
The  bank  of  the  river  being  higher  there,  than  on  the  American 
side,  gave  them  a  decided  advantage  in  throwing  shot  and  shells 
into  the  Fort.  They,  however,  did  but  little  execution ;  only  one 
man  was  injured,  and  that  only  slightly  in  one  arm.  The  fire  was 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  35 

returned  from  one  of  the  batteries  which  had  been  built  near  the 
centre  of  the  town.  The  attack  upon  the  town  continued  until 
near  midnight  when  it  was  suspended  for  a  few  hours.  At  day- 
light the  next  morning,  August  sixteenth,  it  was  resumed  on  both 
sides,  the  enemy  commencing,  and  our  batteries  returning  the  fire. 
The  firing  was  kept  up  on  our  side  until  orders  were  issued  to  stop 
firing.  The  firing  from  the  other  side  continued  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  after  our  batteries  had  ceased,  and  killed  two  of  our  commis- 
sioned officers,  a  surgeon  and  two  privates.  Soon  after,  Captain 
Hull  was  sent  across  the  river  with  a  flag  of  truce. 

During  the  bombardment,  many  incidents,  worthy  of  note,  oc- 
curred. At  its  commencement,  the  citizens  being  unaccustomed 
to  the  roar  of  artillery,  the  rattling  of  shot  against  the  sides  and 
upon  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  and  the  bursting  of  shells,  kept  a 
vigilant  eye  upon  the  movements  of  the  enemy.  When  they  saw 
the  flash  or  smoke  of  a  cannon  or  mortar  on  the  other  side,  they 
dodged  behind  some  building  or  place  of  shelter.  After  a  little 
while  they  became  more  used  to  it  and  paid  less  attention  to  the 
messages  sent  by  the  enemy  through  the  air.  The  late  Judge 
Woodward,  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Terri- 
tory, at  that  time  kept  bachelor's  hall,  in  a  stone  building  on  the 
north  side  of  Jefferson  avenue,  the  principal  street  of  the  town, 
running  parallel  with  the  river,  and  situated  near  the  arsenal. 
Between  this  house  and  the  river,  there  was  a  large  brick  store- 
house belonging  to  the  United  States,  and  near  it  one  of  our  bat- 
teries was  built.  Many  of  the  shots  aimed  at  the  battery  struck 
the  store  house.  A  shot  passed  over  the  store  house  and  perfora- 
ted the  stone  building  in  which  the  Judge  had  his  quarters.  He 
had  just  arisen  from  his  bed  and  stood  beside  it.  The  shot  came 
through  into  his  room  and  struck  the  pillow  and  bed,  and  drove 
them  into  the  fire  place ;  and  the  spent  ball  rolled  out  on  to  the 
floor. 

On  the  evening  of  the  15th  a  large  shell  was  thrown  from  a  mor- 
tar opposite  where  Woodward  avenue  now  is.  As  it  came  career- 
ing along  in  its  circling  path  through  the  air,  it  was  watched  with 
an  anxious  eye,  by  those  who  saw  it,  as  a  messenger  of  death,  per- 
haps, to  some  fellow  mortal  unconscious  of  his  approaching  fate. 


36  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

The  fuse  was  burning  brightly  as  swiftly  it  sped  on  its  errand  of 
destruction.  It  passed  over  Jefferson  avenue,  and  fell  upon  the 
roof  of  the  dwelling  of  Mr.  Augustus  Langdon,  which  stood  on 
what  is  now  called  the  southerly  corner  of  Woodward  avenue  and 
Congress  street.  Passing  through  the  upper  rooms  of  the  house, 
it  fell  upon  a  table  around  which  the  family  were  seated — and  then 
descended  through  the  floor  to  the  cellar — the  fuse  burnt  down 
nearly  to  the  powder.  The  family  fled  with  expedition  to  the 
street,  which  they  had  just  reached,  when  the  shell  exploded — 
tearing  up  the  floors,  and  carrying  away  a  portion  of  the  roof. 

None  of  the  citizens  of  the  town  were  killed  during  the  attack, 
though  many  of  the  dwellings  were  marked  by  the  shot  and  shells 
of  the  enemy. 

The  fort  occupied  the  high  grounds  near  the  residence  of  the 
late  Judge  McDonell.  A  shot  passed  over  the  front  wall,  and 
penetrated  the  barracks,  which  were  on  the  north  side,  killing  three 
officers  who  happened  to  be  standing  in  the  range  of  its  course. 
Another  shot  struck  the  top  of  the  front  parapet,  and,  passing 
through  it,  struck  a  soldier  on  the  breast,  killing  him  instantly, 
without  breaking  the  skin  where  it  hit  him. 

One  of  the  French  citizens,  who  lived  in  a  small  house  near  the 
river,  while  the  shots  and  shells  were  flying  over  him,  stood  uncon- 
cerned in  his  doorway  smoking  his  pipe.  Presently,  a  shell  whiz- 
zed past  him,  taking  with  it  the  pipe  from  his  mouth.  He  was 
unharmed,  but  was  so  indignant,  at  the  unceremonious  treatment, 
and  the  loss  of  his  pipe,  that  he  seized  his  musket,  and,  rushing  to 
the  river,  waded  out  as  far  as  he  could,  and  fired  at  the  battery  of 
the  enemy  until  his  ammunition  was  exhausted. 

In  the  mean  time,  under  cover  of  his  batteries,  Gen.  Brock  had 
crossed  the  river  with  his  forces  and  landed  at  Springwells,  a  mile 
or  two  below  the  town.  Here  he  formed  his  line  and  marched  up 
a  narrow  lane  leading  from  Springwells  to  the  town,  halting  at  a 
ravine  just  below  the  city.  Here  he  remained  unmolested,  and  par- 
took of  breakfast,  while  he  dispatched  an  officer  with  a  flag  to 
ascertain  why  the  American  General  sent  a  flag  of  truce  across  the 
river,  when  he  was  on  this  side.  Gen.  Hull  sent  Captain  Snelling 
with  a  note  to  Gen.  Brock,  which  he  delivered ;  the  purport  of 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    OASS.  37 

'    ..-  • 

which  was  that  he  agreed  to  surrender  the  fort.  Col.  McDonald 
and  Captain  Glegg  were  sent  by  Gen.  Brock  to  agree  upon  the 
terras  of  the  surrender. 

Gen.  Brock  crossed  with  his  army  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
16th  of  August.  It  consisted  of  a  regiment  of  regulars,  volunteers 
in  uniform,  and  un-uniformed  militia.  The  exact  number  cannot 
be  ascertained.  According  to  Captain  Snelling,  who  attempted 
to  count  them  as  they  entered  the  fort,  "there  were  in  advance  the 
troops  of  the  41st  regiment  in  platoons  of  fourteen  files;  as  well  as 
the  York  militia  volunteers — twenty-nine  platoons,  two  deep,  in 
red  coats — that  the  militia  platoons  consisted  of  no  more  than  sev- 
en or  eight  files,  and  composed  one-third  of  the  whole  force — pro- 
bably seven  hundred  and  fifty  whites,  of  which  the  remaining  two- 
thirds  were  regulars  and  un-uniformed  militia."  But  let  the  num- 

O 

ber  be  as  it  may,  greater  or  less,  the  British  General  was  permitted 
to  land  with  as  many,  or  as  few  troops  as  he  chose,  without  oppo- 
sition, without  an  arm  raised  or  a  gun  fired  to  resist  his  progress, 
although  he  was  seen  from  the  ramparts  of  the  fort  to  cross  the 
river,  and  Gen.  Hull  informed  of  the  fact. 

The  American  force  amounted  to  at  least  one  thousand  men  fit 
for  duty.  Among  the  troops  in  garrison  on  the  day  of  the  surren- 
der, there  were  two  troops  of  mounted  men,  a  part  of  the  fourth 
regiment  of  infantry,  several  detachments  of  the  first  infantry, 
Capt.  Dyson's  artillery,  and  the  Michigan  Legion,  who  were  es- 
teemed to  be  among  the  best  disciplined  and  bravest  soldiers  of  the 
army  ;  also  Col.  Brush's  regiment  of  militia. 

There  was  also  in  the  fort  an  abundant  supply  of  field  pieces, 
arms  and  ammunition,  and  provisions  sufficient  to  stand  a  short 
siege.  Disposition  was  even  made  by  Gen.  Hull,  of  the  troops,  in- 
dicating that  he  intended  to  defend  his  flag  and  punish  the  temeri- 
ty of  his  antagonist.  The  forces  were  drawn  out  and  formed  into 
line.  The  militia  under  Col.  Brush,  were  posted  in  defence  of  the 
town.  Col.  Findlay's  regiment  of  near  five  hundred  strong,  togeth- 
er with  the  Michigan  Legion,  formed  a  line  in  advance  of  the  fort 
towards  Springwells,  and  so  as  to  close  with  the  militia  under  Col. 
Brush.  The  artillery,  ammunition,  and  part  of  the  fourth  regiment 
were  at  the  batteries  on  the  bank  of  the  river. 


38  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

• 

The  Fort  itself  was  defended  by  a  part  of  the  fourth  regiment 
of  infantry,  and  was  amply  provided  with  means  of  defence,  even 
if  our  troops  had  been  forced  to  retreat  to  it.  It  stood  on  an  emi- 
nence, the  highest  ground  within  a  circumference  of  several  miles. 
As  described  by  an  officer  who  had  charge  of  the  ordnance  depart- 
ment at  that  time,  it  was  a  regular  half  bastion  fort,  composed  of 
four  curtains  and  four  half  bastions,  about  one  hundred  yards  on 
each  face,  not  including  the  half  bastions,  about  seventy-five  yards 
being  the  extreme  length  of  the  curtain.  It  was  partly  made  of 
earth  ;  the  parapet  was  eleven  feet  in  elevation  ;  the  thickness  of 
the  top  of  the  parapet  was  about  twelve  feet;  the  banquet  for  infan- 
try six  feet  from  the  foundation  or  level  of  the  Fort,  and  five  feet 
for  the  parapet ;  the  whole  width  of  the  rampart  at  its  base  twenty- 
six  feet.  At  the  bottom  of  the  exterior  or  slope  of  the  parapet 
there  was  a  horizontal  space  of  ground  about  two  or  three  feet  in 
width,  extending  around  the  whole  circumference  of  the  work. 
The  ditch  upon  an  average,  was  from  five  to  six  feet  deep,  and  at 
the  bottom  twelve  feet  wide.  In  the  bottom  of  the  ditch  around 
the  Fort,  there  was  a  row  of  pickets  of  cedar,  nearly  new,  and 
twelve  feet  high ;  they  were  fastened  together  by  a  rib.  The  gate 
was  thorougly  made  of  plank  with  spikes  ;  over  the  gate  was  a 
look-out  house  strongly  built;  cannon  were  mounted  in  the  embra- 
zures;  the  fort  was  generally  in  good  order,  and  in  good  repair. 
There  was  in  the  Fort  at  that  time,  thirty-five  pieces  of  ordnance, 
from  twenty-four  pounders  down  to  six  inch  howitzers,  twenty-five 
hundred  stand  of  arms,  fourteen  thousand  cannon  balls,  seventeen 
hundred  shells,  four  thousand  hand  grenades,  three  and  a  half 
tuns  of  lead,  some  of  which  was  run  into  balls,  one  hundred  thou- 
sand flints,  seven  hundred  rounds  of  fixed  ammunition  for  the  can- 
non, and  about  ten  thousand  pounds  of  powder. 

Major  Jessuphad  obtained  the  consent  of  Gen.  Hull  to  take  out 
some  pieces  of  artillery  to  fire  upon  the  enemy  as  they  approached. 
He  was  proceeding  to  his  command  when  he  noticed  that  the  line 
which  had  been  so  advantageously  formed  for  driving  the  enemy 
back,  was  breaking  up  and  retreating  to  the  Fort.  Inquiring  of 
an  officer  what  it  meant,  he  was  told  to  "look  to  the  fort."  He  did 
so,  and  there  saw  a  white  flag  flying.  Riding  up  to  the  fort,  he 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  39 

inquired  of  Gen.  Hull  "  if  it  was  possible  he  was  about  to  surren- 
der?" He  received  an  affirmative  reply.  The  troops  were  all 
ordered  to  the  fort.  The  aids  of  the  British  General  were  there  to 
complete  the  capitulation — articles  were  entered  into,  by  which 
Fort  Detroit,  with  all  the  troops,  regulars  as  well  as  militia,  were 
surrendered  to  the  British  forces  under  Major  General  Brock,  and 
both  were  considered  prisoners  of  war,  except  such  of  the  Michi- 
gan militia  as  had  not  joined  the  army.  Public  property  of  every 
description  was  given  to  the  enemy.  The  detachment  of  Ohio 
militia  at  the  Raisin,  and  Col.  McArthur's  detachment,  were  in- 
cluded in  the  conditions  of  the  stipulation.  The  officers  and  sol- 
diers of  the  Michigan  and  Ohio  militia  and  volunteers,  were  per- 
mitted to  return  to  their  homes,  not  to  serve  during  the  war,  unless 
exchanged.  The  Americen  soldiers  marched  out  of  the  fort  at 
twelve  o'clock  on  the  16th  of  August,  and  the  British  forces  took 
possession.  The  regulars  of  the  United  States  army  were  taken 
prisoners  to  Quebec.  Gen.  Hull  was  taken  to  Montreal,  and  was 
afterwards  exchanged. 

The  British  established  a  temporary  government  under  Proctor, 
and  stationed  a  small  force  in  the  fort.  The  citizens  of  the  terri- 
tory and  town  suffered  dreadfully  from  the  Indians.  They  were 
numerous  and  insolent,  claiming  as  a  right  the  privilege  of  plun- 
dering and  laying  waste  every  house  and  farm  in  the  territory.  It 
is  well  known  that  the  worst  passions  of  these  savages  were  exci- 
ted by  their  British  allies  against  the  American  people.  They  lost  no 
opportunity  of  gratifying  their  vindictiveness  and  ferocious  enmity. 

Gen.  Brock  appears  to  have  been  quite  as  much  surprised,  as 
pleased,  at  his  unexpected  success.  His  communication  to  Pro- 
vost, announcing  the  fall  of  Detroit,  was  written  upon  the  spot,  and 
at  the  moment  of  his  triumph — under  the  exhilaration  of  an  un- 
looked  for  and  bloodless  victory.  It  bears  date,  Detroit,  August 
16th,  1812,  and  says  :  "  I  hasten  to  apprise  your  Excellency  of  the 
capture  of  this  very  important  post.  Twenty-five  hundred  troops 
have  this  day  surrendered  prisoners  of  war,  and  about  twenty-five 
pieces  of  ordnance,  have  been  taken  without  the  sacrifice  of  a  drop 
of  British  blood.  I  had  not  more  than  600  troops,  including  mili. 
tia,  and  about  600  Indians,  to  accomplish  this  service.  When  I 
detail  my  good  fortune,  your  Excellency  will  be  astonished.'' 


40  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CAMS. 

Thus  occurred  this  memorable  transaction,  which  excited  in  the 
bosom  of  every  American,  feelings  of  the  deepest  indignation. 
Never  hr.d  the  American  army,  until  then,  yielded  to  the  arrogant 
demands  of  an  enemy,  or  been  compelled  by  its  commander,  qui- 
etly to  submit,  without  striking  a  single  blow  in  defence.  Had 
Gen.  Hull  listened  to  the  advice  which  he  received  from  his  brave 
officers,  and  planted  a  battery  at  Springwells,  Gen.  Brock  would 
never  have  stepped  on  American  soil.  He  would  have  been  forced 
to  abandon  his  attempt  to  land,  or  else  subjected  his  men  to  total 
and  complete  destruction.  Had  he  permitted  his  soldiers  to  fire 
upon  the  enemy  after  they  had  landed,  they  would  have  been  cut 
to  pieces  on  their  march  from  Sprmgwells  to  the  town.  Gen.  Hull 
might  at  that  time  have  so  disposed  of  his  troops  and  artillery,  as 
to  shoot  them  down  as  they  approached.  Such  was  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  the  officers  and  soldiers ;  nay  of  all,  who  were  partici- 
pants in  the  scene.  But  not  the  slightest  effort  at  resistance  was 
made.  Not  a  man  in  our  army,  but  was  on  the  alert,  anxiously 
waiting  the  order  for  attack.  They  stood  by  their  guns,  ready  to 
deal  death  and  destruction  upon  the  advancing  columns  of  their 
enemies.  Hope  animated  all,  for  they  reasonably  expected  that 
the  moment  of  victory  had  arrived,  and  each  one  had  nerved  his 
arm  to  strike  a  blow  that  would  bring  triumph  to  his  flag.  But, 
alas,  no  such  order  was  given.  The  lips  of  the  commanding  Gen- 
eral were  sealed.  Not  a  word  of  hope  or  encouragement  did  he 
utter;  not  even  an  order  to  fire  a  single  gun.  He  did  at  length 
give  an  order,  but  it  was  one  which  struck  horror  and  anguish  to 
the  hearts  of  the  brave  men,  who  saw  their  enemies  before  them, 
within  their  reach,  and  yet  were  prevented  by  obedience  to  mili- 
tary discipline  from  obtaining  a  proud  and  glorious  triumph  over 
the  presumptuous  invaders — it  was  an  order  to  retreat  to  the  fort. 
They  reluctantly  obeyed,  and  as  they  turned  towards  the  fort,  they 
saw  spread  to  the  breeze,  and  flying  in  triumph  over  the  star-span- 
gled banner,  the  while  flag  of  surrender.  At  that  sight,  the  heart 
of  that  army,  as  if  it  was  that  of  one  man,  was  chilled  to  the  core. 
It  was  then  too  late  to  change  the  current  of  events.  Had  the  in- 
tention of  Gen.  Hull  been  known  but  a  little  earlier,  some  one  of 
the  brave  spirits,  whom  he  outranked,  would  have  placed  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  army  and  driven  the  enemy  from  American  territory. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  41 

None  could  comprehend  the  motive  or  cause  of  this  disgraceful 
surrender.  No  one  expected  it.  When  the  intelligence  reached 
the  eastern  frontier,  soon  after  they  had  heard  there  of  Col.  Cass' 
successful  efforts  in  Canada,  it  was  received  with  doubt,  and  many 
would  not  believe  it.  Col.  Cass,  in  his  letter  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment, giving  a  true  and  impartial  statement  of  the  transaction,  says 
"  the  General  must  have  taken  counsel  only  of  his  own  feelings, 
for  no  one  anticipated  a  surrender  ;  even  the  women  were  indig- 
nant at  so  shameful  a  degradation  of  American  character." 

Gen.  Hull,  in  his  official  dispatch  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  com- 
municating the  fall  of  Detroit,  bears  testimony  to  the  noble  spirit 
which  pervaded  his  officers  and  men.  He  says  :  "A  large  portion 
of  the  brave  and  gallant  officers  and  men  I  commanded,  would 
cheerfully  have  contested  until  the  last  cartridge  had  been  expend- 
ed, and  the  bayonets  worn  to  the  sockets."  "Before  I  close  this 
dispatch,  it  is  a  duty  I  owe  my  respectable  associates  in  command, 
Colonels  McArthur,  Findlay,  Cass,  and  Lieut.  Miller,  to  express 
my  obligations  to  them  for  the  prompt  and  judicious  manner  they 
have  performed  their  respective  duties.  If  aught  has  taken  place 
daring  the  campaign,  which  is  honorable  to  the  army,  these  officers 
are  entitled  to  a  large  share  of  it.  If  the  last  act  should  be  dis- 
approved, no  part  of  the  censure  belongs  to  them." 

Gen.  Hull  was  afterwards  brought  to  trial  for  his  conduct,  while 
in  command  of  the  army  of  the  Northwest.  He  was  convicted  by 
the  Court  Martial,  and  sentenced  to  be  shot.  In  consideration  of 
his  revolutionary  services,  the  sentence  was  remitted  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States. 

While  this  scene  was  transacting — while  the  British  General 
was  receiving  from  Gen.  Hull  the  delivery  of  the  American  Fort 
and  army,  Col.  Cass,  inspired  by  patriotism  and  an  ardent  desire 
to  render  his  country  all  possible  service,  was  on  duty  with  his  de- 
tachment threading  with  his  soldiers  the  wild  and  devious  pathway 
of  the  wilderness.  The  detachment  had,  despite  the  serious  obsta- 
cles which  at  every  step,  almost,  retarded  its  progress,  under  the 
cheering  presence  of  its  officers,  proceeded  nearly  twenty  miles  on 
its  route.  This  was  accomplished  on  the  night  of  the  14th,  hav- 
ing marched  most  of  the  night.  Sometime  after  midnight  they 
halted  and  rested  until  morning.  The  march  was  then  resumed 


42  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CAS9. 

and  continued  all  day.  Towards  evening  on  the  15th,  the  guides 
and  mounted  men  who  had  been  sent  in  advance  to  see  if  Capt. 
Brush  was  on  his  way,  returned  without  having  met  any  one,  or 
discovered  anything  but  Indian  trails.  By  this  time  the  men  were 
completely  exhausted  from  fatigue  and  want  of  food.  They  start- 
ed without  provisions,  and  none  were  sent  after  them  as  had  been 
promised.  They  had  eaten  nothing  but  green  corn  and  pumpkins, 
which  they  got  from  a  field  which  they  passed.  A  consultation 
was  held  among  the  officers,  and  it  was  decided  to  return  to  De- 
troit. This  step  was  forced  upon  them  by  the  famished  and  weari- 
ed condition  of  the  men.  The  return  march  was  commenced,  but 
continued  only  for  a  short  distance,  when  they  halted  for  rest.  It 
was  here  that  Cols.  Cass  and  McArthur  first  learned  that  Gen. 
Brock  had  reached  Detroit  river,  from  a  note  brought  to  them  from 
Gen.  Hull,  the  substance  of  which  was  that  Gen.  Brock  was  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river, and  had  summoned  the  town  to  surren- 
der. They  were  directed  to  return  as  soon  as  possible.  From  the 
tenor  of  Gen.  Hull's  note,  Col.  Cass  anticipated  an  engagement 
with  the  British  army,  and  was  so  anxious  to  reach  the  Fort  before 
any  decisive  movement  occurred,  that  had  not  the  laborious  march 
of  the  day,  and  the  fatigue  of  the  soldiers  prevented,  he  would 
have  returned  that  night  At  early  dawn  the  next  morning  they 
started  and  traveled  until  nine  o'clock,  when  they  halted  for  a  short 
time,  having  reached  the  river  Rouge  somewhere  near  Dearborn. 
Those  only  who  are  conversant  from  experience  with  the  difficul- 
ties and  toil  of  forcing  a  way  through  the  swamps  and  morasses  of 
the  wilderness,  can  appreciate  the  labors  of  those  gallant  officers 
and  soldiers.  After  a  short  interval,  the  inarch  was  resumed,  and 
soon  after,  firing  of  cannon  was  heard  in  the  direction  of  Detroit. 
This  hastened  their  movements.  They  hoped  to  get  there  in  time 
to  participate  in  the  defence  of  the  Fort,  intending  to  come  to  the 
aid  of  the  garrison  by  attacking  the  British  in  the  rear,  if  they 
should  find  that  Brock,  by  the  fortunes  of  war,  or  other  causes, 
had  succeeded  in  treading  upon  American  soil.  The  firing  did  not 
long  continue  after  it  was  first  heard.  When  it  ceased,  the  sus- 
pense which  tortured  the  minds  of  Cols.  Cass  and  McArthur  can 
be  better  conceived  than  described.  What  the  result  was,  they 
could  not  determine.  Gen.  Hull's  retreat  from  Canada  had  not 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  43 

contributed  to  awaken  in  them  any  additional  confidence  in  his 
judgment  or  capacity  for  conducting  the  campaign.  Hence  they 
were  in  doubt.  It  was  indeed  no  desirable  position  for  those  two 
hrave  and  gallant  officers,  to  be  miles  from  the  scene  of  supposed 
conflict,  yet  within  the  sound  of  the  cannon,  but  unable  from  irre- 
mediable necessity  to  bring  their  forces  to  combat  with  the  enemy. 
While  brooding  over  the  chances,  which  appeared  to  be  against 
them,  and  lamenting  the  fortune  which  prevented  them  from  win- 
ning for  their  country  and  themselves,  the  glory  and  advantage  of 
victory  over  the  enemy,  they  were  met  by  some  persons  from  De- 
troit, who  informed  them  that  the  town  and  Fort  were  surrendered 
by  Gen.  Hull,  and  in  possession  of  the  British  army.  They  could 
not  believe  the  report.  It  was  too  repugnant  to  their  proud  and 
patriotic  spirits  to  admit  that  the  star  spangled  banner,  which  but 
two  days  previous  they  had  left  gaily  sporting  in  the  free  winds,  on 
the  flag  post  of  their  Fortress,  was  trailing  in  the  dirt  at  the  feet 
of  an  enemy.  The  sad  and  unwelcome  news  was  too  soon  con- 
firmed by  the  return  of  their  own  scouts  whom  they  sent  to  ascer- 
tain the  state  of  affairs  at  Detroit.  On  receiving  this  intelligence 
a  council  of  officers  was  held,  which  resulted  in  a  decision  to  fall 
back  a  few  miles  to  the  River  Rouge,  and  take  position  at  a  bridge 
which  afforded  some  advantages  for  defence-  Here  the  soldiers 
killed  an  ox,  roasted  it,  and  eat  it  without  bread  or  salt,  being  their 
first  meal  since  they  left  Detroit  on  the. night  of  the  14th  of  Au- 
gust, except  some  corn  and  pumpkins.  Capt.  Mansfield  was  sent 
with  a  flag  to  the  British  commander  to  ascertain  upon  what  terms 
the  surrender  had  been  made,  and  to  notify  him  that  if  the  surren- 
der was  unconditional,  the  detachment  would  prepare  to  defend 
themselves.  Before  Capt.  Mansfield  returned,  Capt.  Elliot,  a  Brit- 
ish officer  bearing  a  flag,  and  accompanied  by  some  Indians,-  ap- 
proached the  detachment,  He  delivered  to  Col  McArthur  a  note 
from  Gen.  Hull,  and  exhibited  the  articles  of  capitulation.  The 
note  from  Gen.  Hull,  was  to  the  effect  that  the  detachment  was  in- 
cluded in  the  capitulation,  and  directed  Col.  McArthur  to  return 
to  Detroit.  By  the  rules  of  war  and  military  government  there 
was  an  obligation  on  the  officers  of  the  detachment  to  submit  to 
the  order  of  their  commander  and  acquiesce  in  his  proceedings, 
however  repugnant  to  their  inclinations  and  wishes.  In  this  case, 


44  LIFE    OF    GENERAL  CASS. 

too,  there  appeared  no  alternative,  but  to  obey,  or  subject  their 
men,  worn  down  and  exhausted,  to  an  attack  from  the  British  and 
hordes  of  Indians  who  immediately  after  the  surrender,  thronged 
into  the  town  and  vicinity.  It  was  alike  impossible  to  retreat 
through  the  woods  to  Ohio,  or  advance  hastily  to  Detroit.  They 
had  no  provisions,  and  but  a  scanty  supply  of  ammunition.  The 
detachment  marched  to  Detroit. 

But  to  the  humiliating  ceremony  of  personal  submission,  Col. 
Cass  would  not  submit.  With  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  a  free- 
man, he  resolved  that  his  sword  should  not  be  dishonored  by  the 
touch  of  the  enemy.  "  Traitor  !"  he  exclaimed;  "  he  has  verified 
our  worst  fears — he  has  eluded  our  grasp  and  disgraced  the  coun- 
try. But  the  enemy  shall  never  receive  my  sword."  With  these 
words,  he  broke  his  sword  and  cast  the  pieces  away. 

No  evidence  is  necessary  to  establish  the  fact,  that  Col.  Cass, 
then,  as  on  every  other  occasion  during  the  war,  acted  with  the 
bravery  and  energy  characteristic  of  the  patriot  and  brave  soldier  ; 
yet  it  may  not  be  out  of  place,  here  to  record  the  unsolicited  tes- 
timony of  the  gallant  General  Jessup,  who  was  acting  Adju- 
tant General  of  Hull's  army,  to  the  patriotism  and  military  capa- 
city of  his  companion  in  arms.  He  says,  "  as  to  Gen.  Cass,  I  have 
served  with  him  in  two  campaigns,  and  a  part  of  the  time  under 
his  orders  and  attached  to  his  brigade.  I  have  seen  him  in  situa- 
tions and  under  circumstances,  that  would  test  the  courage  of  any 
man,  and  he  never  faltered  ;  but  always  acted  in  accordance  with 
the  dictates  of  high  patriotism.  Whatever  may  be  the  course  of 
others,  he  is  never  the  apologist  of  the  enemy;  but  is  always  found 
on  the  side  of  his  country." 

No  man  in  the  army  was  more  indignant  than  Col.  Cass  at  the 
conduct  of  Gen.  Hull.  Once  before,  and  only  a  few  days  pre- 
vious to  the  closing  of  the  campaign,  he  beheld  an  opportunity 
for  victory  and  conquest,  of  the  most  incalculable  advantage  to  the 
country,  lost  by  the  needless  and  inglorious  retreat  of  the  comman- 
ding General  from  Canada.  By  that  inexplicable  event,  the  suspi- 
cions of  Col.  Cass  and  other  officers,  were  awakened.  They  be- 
came fearful  that  Gen.  Hull  contemplated  some  movement  which 
would  prove  disastrous  to  the  American  cause.  Indeed,  it  is  well 
known,  that  three  officers  of  high  rank,  in  view  of  the  perilous  con- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  45 

dition  in  which  cowardice  or  treachery  would  have  placed  the  in- 
terests and  honor  of  the  country,  had  resolved  upon  the  first  indi- 
cation of  a  want  of  patriotism,  or  courage,  or  reluctance  on  the 
part  of  the  commanding  General,  to  fulfil  the  obligations  due  to 
his  country,  to  arrest  him  and  deprive  him  of  his  command.  The 
absence  of  two  of  those  officers,  at  the  time  of  the  surrender  of 
Detroit,  defeated  the  realization  of  a  measure  which,  doubtless, 
would  have  averted  the  fate  of  that  post.  It  may  be  safely  assert- 
ed, that  so  far  as  human  power  could  avail,  had  Cols,  Cass  and  Mc- 
Arthur  been  at  Detroit  on  the  16th  of  August,  or  could  they  have 
reached  there  before  Brock  landed,  or  even  before  the  capitulation 
was  signed,  Detroit  never  would  have  been  tamely  given  up  to  the 
enemy.  They,  with  the  other  gallant  spirits  of  the  army,  would 
each  have  fought,  as  long  as  life  lasted,  in  defence  of  the  flag  of 
the  Union.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  knowledge,  of  the  ab- 
sence of  those  two  distinguished  and  popular  officers,*induced  Gen. 
Brock  to  invade  our  territory. 

As  soon  as  Elliott  had  delivered  the  order  from  Gen.  Hull  to 
Col.  McArthur  at  the  river  Rouge,  he  moved  on  with  his  escort, 
to  the  river  Raisin,  to  find  Capt.  Brush,  to  deliver  a  similar  mes- 
sage to  him.  He  reached  the  camp  of  that  officer  on  the  17th. 
He  was  seen  approaching  at  some  distance  from  the  post,  and  Capt. 
Rowland  with  a  small  guard  was  dispatched  to  receive  him.  El- 
liott supposing  him  to  be  the  commander  of  the  post,  delivered  the 
papers  which  he  bore,  to  him.  On  reading  them  Capt.  Rowland 
was  confounded  with  doubt  and  amazement,  and  exclaimed,  "trea- 
son or  forgery !"  Elliott  was  then  blindfolded  and  led  to  the  gar- 
rison, to  Capt.  Brush.  Examining  the  papers,  Capt.  Brush  pro- 
nounced them  palpable  forgeries,  and  told  Elliott  he  should  be  de- 
tained until  further  information  was  obtained,  and  should  be  held 
responsible  for  the  consequences.  Elliott  and  his  companions 
were  placed  under  separate  guard.  A  short  time  after,  soldiers 
from  Detroit  came  to  the  camp,  and  confirmed  the  surrender  of 
the  fort.  A  council  of  officers  was  held  on  the  course  to  be  adop- 
ted. It  was  unanimously  agreed  that  Gen.  Hnll  had  no  authority 
to  bind  the  detachment  by  capitulation,  and  they  were  not  bound 
to  subscribe  to  his  terms.  It  was  also  proposed  to  break  up  the 
camp,  destroy  the  public  stores  which  could  not  be  carried  away, 


46  LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASK. 


and  march  to  Ohio.  Considerations  of  humanity,  towards  some 
families  living  at  the  camp,  and  some  soldiers  who  were  in  the  hos- 
pital, prevented  the  destruction  of  the  stores.  The  camp  was  bro- 
ken up,  and  the  detachment  marched  back  to  Ohio. 

Col.  Cass,  in  his  communication  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  on  the 
subject  of  this  surrender,  says  in  the  glowing  language  of  a  true 
hearted  patriot  —  "Our  duty  and  our  interest  was  TO  FIGHT.  The 
enemy  invited  us  to  meet  him  in  the  field.  By  defeating  him  the 
whole  country  would  have  been  open  to  us,  and  the  whole  object 
of  our  expedition  gloriously  and  successfully  obtained.  If  we  had 
been  defeated,  we  had  nothing  to  do  but  retreat  to  the  fort,  and 
make  the  best  defence  which  circumstances  and  our  situation  ren- 
dered practicable.  But  basely  to  surrender  without  firing  a  gun  — 
tamely  to  submit  without  raising  a  bayonet  —  disgracefully  to  pass 
in  review  before  an  enemy,  inferior  in  quality  as  well  as  the  num- 
ber of  his  forces,  were  circumstances  which  excited  feelings  of 
indignation  more  easily  felt  than  described.  To  see  the  whole  of 
our  men,  flushed  with  the  hope  of  victory,  eagerly  awaiting  the  ap- 
proaching contest;  to  see  them  afterwards,  dispirited,  hopeless  and 
desponding,  at  least  five  hundred  shedding  tears,  because  they 
were  not  allowed  to  meet  their  country?s  foe,  and  to  fight  their 
country's  battles,  excited  sentiments  which  no  American  has  ever 
before  had  cause  to  feel,  and  which  I  trust  in  God  will  never  again 
be  felt,  while  one  man  remains  to  defend  the  standard  of  the 
Vnion." 

General  Hull,  in  his  official  account  of  the  transaction,  offers  irt 
justification  of  the  surrender,  the  inefficient  condition  of  his  army, 
which  he  states  to  have  been  "  worn  down  by  fatigue,  sickness, 
wounds  and  death,"  and  utterly  unable  to  defend  itself  against  the 
combined  force  of  British  and  Indians.  As  civil  Governor  of  the 
territory,  he  felt  bound  to  protect  the  population  of  the  town  and 
vicinity,  from  the  sacrifice  of  blood  and  life,  which  would  have  been 
the  consequence,  had  the  result  of  battle  been  against  him.  He 
dreaded  the  barbarities  of  the  Indians,  upon  the  defenceless  and 
conquered,  in  the  event  of  his  defeat.  Neither  the  reasons  stated 
in  his  official  dispatch,  nor  his  argument  before  the  court  martial, 
defending  his  course,  satisfied  his  fellow  officers  who  sat  in  judg- 
ment upon  him,  nor  the  people  of  the  country.  Public  opinion 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  47 

condemned  the  act.  Time  may  have  greatly  mollified  the  severity 
of  censure  pronounced  upon  him  by  his  countrymen.  The  motive 
of  humanity  which  preferred  and  effected  the  sacrifice  of  an  army 
and  a  nation's  honor,  to  the  contingent  disasters  of  merely  antici- 
pated defeat,  may  have  weight  with  the  philanthropist  and  non- 
resistant  ;  but  the  recorded  evidence  of  the  whole  affair,  will  ever 
sustain  the  general  judgment  of  the  country — that  had  Gen.  Hull 
displayed  the  valor,  the  activity,  and  noble  daring  which  character- 
ized his  revolutionary  career,  and  made  him  the  recipient  of  the 
well  merited  personal  commendation  of  Gen.  Washington,  and  of 
the  approbation  of  his  countrymen  for  his  services  at  Trenton, 
Stoney  Point,  and  Saratoga — the  stars  and  stripes  would  not  have 
fallen  from  the  flag  post  of  Detroit.  They  might  have  been  torn 
and  tattered,  and  riddled  by  the  enemy's  bullets ;  but  every  rent 
would  have  been  a  history  of  glorious  achievement,  and  every  bul- 
let hole  a  star  of  glory,  for  the  brave  and  victorious  defenders. 

The  general  incredulity,  in  which  the  news  of  Hull's  surrender 
was  every  where  received,  is  the  best  evidence  of  its  unexpected- 
ness, and  utter  non-necessity.  Even  at  the  very  moment  when  ar- 
ticles of  capitulation  were  being  prepared  in  the  American  Fort, 
crowded  with  mortified  and  enraged  officers  and  soldiers,  the  peo- 
ple of  the  States  were  rejoicing  at  the  reports  that  were  rife  among 
them,  that  the  American  army  had  full  possession  of  the  Western 
frontier  of  Canada,  and  had  driven  the  enemy  from  their  important 
post  at  Maiden.  The  transition  from  joy,  at  the  belief  that  the  ob- 
ject of  the  expedition  was  accomplished,  to  gloom  and  sorrow  for 
the  certainty  of  its  complete  failure  was  sudden,  but  it  had  the  ef- 
fect of  arousing  a  spirit  throughout  the  country,  active,  determin- 
ed and  effective,  for  avenging  the  disaster. 

The  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  at  its  session  in  December,  1 812, 
adopted  resolutions  commendatory  of  the  promptitude,  courage,  and 
honest  zeal  manifested  by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Ohio  vol- 
unteers. The  resolutions  accompanied  by  a  complimentary  and 
approving  letter  from  Gen.  Meigs,  were  transmitted  to  Colonels 
Cass,  Findlay  and  McArthur,  the  commandants  of  the  three  regi- 
ments, composing  the  corps  of  volunteers. 

The  letter  and  resolutions  are  here  annexed  : — 


48  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

CHILLICOTHE,  Dec.  28th,  1812. 

SIR: — In  compliance  with  a  request  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  Ohio,  I  transmit  you  the  enclosed  resolutions. 

This  act  I  perform  with  much  satisfaction,  because  the  principles  ex- 
pressed in  the  resolutions  I  deem  correct,  and  know  that  the  applause  be- 
stowed was  truly  merited  by  the  Volunteers  of  Ohio,  which,  though  unfor- 
tunate, were  brave,  and  have  exhibited  a  laudable  example  ot  prompti- 
tude, courage  and  zeal,  worthy  the  imitation  of  the  whole  militia  of  the 
State. 

To  the  approbation  of  the  General  Assembly,  permit  me  sir,  to  add  my 
sincere  commendation  of  the  soldierly  deportment  of  the  corps  under  your 
command. 

Be  pleased,  sir,  to  accept  the  assurance  of  my  consideration. 

R.  J.  MEIGS. 

Resolutions  concerning  the  conduct  of  the  corps  of  Volunteers  from  this 
State,  during  and  previous  to  the  late  campaign  under  the  command  of 
General  Hull: — 

Whereas,  It  is  deemed  of  vital  importance  to  every  republican  govern- 
ment, that  an  ardent  love  of  country  should  characterize  its  inhabitants ; 
and  whereas,  those  are  especially  deserving  of  the  gratitude  of  their  country, 
who  stand  forth  early,  and  with  alacrity  in  its  defence  ;  and  whereas  this 
General  Assembly  has  been  advised  of  the  promptitude  and  honest  zeal 
with  which  the  corps  of  volunteers  from  this  State,  (lately  undtr  the  com- 
mand of  Gen.  Hull,)  assembled,  were  organized  and  marched  into  the 
enemy's  country,  and  of  their  bravery  and  general  good  conduct,  there- 
fore, 

Be  it  resolved,  by  the.  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  ofthz  State  of 
Ohio,  That  the  thanks  of  this  State  are  due  to  the  officers  and  soldiers 
comprising  the  said  corps,  for  the  patriotism,  bravery,  and  general  good 
conduct,  which  they  evinced  during  their  late  arduous  and  disastrous  cam- 
paign. 

Be  itfurlh'.r  Resolved,  That  the  Governor  of  this  State  be  requested  to 
forward  to  each  of  the  late  commandants  of  the  three  regiments  compo- 
sing said  corps,  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  ;  and  fhat  he  take  such  fur- 
ther notice  of  them,  in  his  general  orders,  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
militia  of  the  State,  as  propriety  may  direct 

JOHN  POLLOCK, 

Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
THOMAS  KISKER, 

Speaker  of  the  Senate. 

A  month  having  elapsed,  subsequent  to  ihe  surrender  of  the 
Northwestern  Army  and  the  town  of  Detroit,  and  no  official  report 
having  been  received  at  Washington,  of  the  transaction,  Col.  Cass, 
who  was  there  on  parole,  prepared  and  submitted  to  the  Secretary 
of  War,  the  following  communication  of  the  disastrous  and  inglo- 
rious affair : — 


LIFE  OF  GENERAL  CASS.  49 

LETTER  OF  COLONEL  CASS, 

Of  the  Army  late  under  the  command  of  Brigadier  General  William  Hull, 

to  the  Secretary  of  War. 

WASHINGTON,  Sept.  10,  1812. 

SIR — Having  been  ordered  on  to  this  place  by  Col.  McArthur,  for  the 
purpose  of  communicating  to  the  government,  such  particulars  respecting 
the  expedition  lately  commanded  by  Brigadier  General  Hull,  and  its  dis- 
astrous result,  as  might  enable  them  to  correctly  appreciate  the  conduct  of 
the  officers  and  men,  and  to  develope  the  causes  which  produced  so  foul 
a  stain  upon  the  national  character,  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  to  your 
consideration  the  following  statement : 

When  the  forces  landed  in  Canada,  they  landed  with  an  ardent  zeal 
and  stimulated  with  the  hope  of  conquest.  JYb  enemy  appeared  within 
view  of  us,  and  had  an  immediate  vigorous  attack  been  made  upon  Mai- 
den, it  would  doubtless  have  fallen  an  easy  victory.  I  know  Gen.  Hull 
afterwards  declared  he  regretted  this  at'ack  had  not  been  made,  and  he 
had  every  reason  to  believe  success  would  have  crowned  his  efforts.  The 
reason  given  for  delaying  our  operations,  was  to  mount  our  heavy  cannon 
and  afford  the  Canadian  militia  time  and  opportunity  to  quit  an  obnoxious 
service.  In  the  course  of  two  weeks,  the  number  of  their  militia  who 
were  embodied  had  decreased  by  desertion  from  six  hundred  to  one  hun- 
dred men — and,  in  the  course  of  three  weeks,  the  cannon  were  mounted, 
the  ammunition  fixed,  and  every  preparation  made  for  an  immediate  in- 
vestment of  the  fort.  At  a  council,  at  which  were  present  all  the  field 
officers,  and  which  was  held  two  days  before  our  preparations  were  com- 
pleted, it  was  unanimously  agreed  to  make  an  immediate  attempt  to  ac- 
complish the  object  of  the  expedition.  If  by  waiting  two  days  we  could 
have  the  service  of  our  heavy  artillery,  it  was  agreed  to  wait — if  not,  it 
was  determined  to  go  without  it,  and  to  attempt  the  place  by  storm.  This 
opinion  appeared  to  correspond  with  the  views  of  the  General,  and  the 
day  was  appointed  for  commencing  our  march.  He  declared  to  me,  that 
Jie  considered  himself  pledged  to  lead  the  army  to  Maiden.  The  arfimu- 
"nitiou  was  placed  in  the  wagons — the  cannon  were  embarked  on  board 
the  floating  batteries,  and  every  requisite  article  was  prepared.  The  spirit 
and  zeal,  the  ardor  and  animation  displayed  by  the  officers  and  men,  on 
learning  the  near  accomplishment  of  their  wishes,  was  a  sure  and  sacred 
pledge  that  in  the  hour  of  trial  they  would  not  be  wanting  in  their  duty  to 
their  country  and  themselves.  But  a  change  of  measures,  in  opposition 
to  the  wishes  and  opinions  of  all  the  officers,  was  adopted  by  the  Gene- 
ral. Tne  plan  of  attacking  Maiden  v.as  abandoned,  and  instead  of  acting 
offensively,  we  broke  up  our  camp,  evacuated  Canada,  and  re-crossed  the 
river  in  the  night,  without  even  the  shadow  of  an  enemy  to  injure  us.  We 
left  to  the  tender  mercy  of  the  enemy  the  miserable  Canadians  who  had 
joined  us,  and  the  protection  we  afforded  them  was  but  a  passport  to  ven- 
geance. This  fatal  and  unaccountable  step  dispirited  the  troops,  and  de- 
stroyed the  little  confidence  which  a  series  of  timid,  irresolute,  and  unde- 
cisive measures  had  left  in  the  commanding  officer. 

About  the  10th  of  August,  the  enemy  received  a  reinforcement  of  four 
hundred  men.  On  the  12th,  the  commanding  officers  of  three  of  the  re- 
giments (the  fourth  was  absent)  was  informed  through  a  medium  which 
admitted  of  no  doubt,  that  the  general  had  stated,  that  a  capitulation 
would  be  necessary.  They  on  the  same  day  addressed  to  Gov.  Meigs  of 
Ohio,  a  letter,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

"  Believe  all  the  bearer  will  tell  you.  Believe  it,  however  it  may  aston- 
ish you,  as  much  as  if  told  you  by  one  of  us.  Even  a  c is 

talked  of  by  the  The  bearer  will  fill  the  vacancy." 

4 


50  LIFE    GENERAL    CASS. 

The  doubtful  fate  of  this  letter  rendered  it  necessary  to  use  circum- 
spection in  its  details,  and  therefore  these  blanks  were  left.  The  word 
"capitulation"  will  fill  the  first,  and  "commanding  general"  the  other.  As 
no  enemy  was  near  us,  and  as  the  superiority  of  our  forces  was  manifest 
we  could  see  no  necessity  for  capitulating,  nor  any  propriety  in  alluding 
to  it.  We  therefore  determined  in  the  last  resort  to  incur  the  responsi- 
bility of  divesting  the  general  of  his  command.  This  plan  was  eventu- 
ally prevented  by  two  of  the  commanding  officers  of  regiments  being  or- 
dered upon  detachments. 

On  the  13th,  the  British  took  a  position  opposite  to  Detroit,  and  began 
to  throw  up  works.  During  that  and  the  two  following  days,  they  pur- 
sued their  object 'without  interruption,  and  established  a  battery  for  two 
18  pounders  and  an  8  inch  howitzer.  About  sunset,  on  the  evening  of 
the  14th,  a  detachment  of  350  men  from  the  regiments  commanded  by 
Col.  McArthur  and  myself,  was  ordered  to  march  to  the  river  Raisin,  to 
escort  the  provisions,  which  had  sometime  remained  there,  protected  by  a 
party  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Brush. 

On  Saturday,  the  15th,  about  one  o'clock,  a  flag  of  truce  arrived  from 
Sandwich,  bearing  a  summons  from  Gen.  Brcck,  for  the  surrender  of  the 
town  and  fort  of  Detroit,  stating  he  could  no  longer  restrain  the  fury  of 
the  savages.  To  this  an  immediate  and  spirited  refusal  was  returned. 
About  four  o'clock  their  batteries  began  to  play  upon  the  town.  The  fire 
was  returned  and  continued  without  interruption  and  with  little  effect  till 
dark.  Their  shells  were  thrown  till  eleven  o'clock. 

At  daylight  the  firing  on  both  sides  re-commenced — about  the  same 
time,  the  enemy  began  to  land  troops  at  the  Springwells,  three  miles  be- 
low Detroit,  protected  by  two  of  their  armed  vessels.  Between  G  and  7 
o'clock  they  had  effected  their  landing,  and  immediately  took  up  their 
line  of  march,  They  moved  in  a  close  column  of  platoons,  twelve  in 
front  upon  the  bank  of  the  river. 

The  fourth  regiment  was  stationed  in  the  fort — the  Ohio  volunteers  and 
a  part  of  the  Michigan  militia,  behind  some  pickets  in  a  situation  in  which 
the  whole  flank  of  the  enemy  would  have  been  exposed.  The  residue  of 
the  Michigan  militia  were  in  the  upper  part  of  the  town  to  resist  the  incur- 
sions of  the  savages.  Two  24  pounders  loaded  with  grape  ehot  were 
posted  upon  a  commanding  eminence,  ready  to  sweep  the  advancing  col- 
umn. In  this  situation,  the  superiority  of  our  position  was  apparent,  and 
our  troops  in  the  eager  expectation  of  victory,  awaited  the  approach  of 
the  enemy.  Not  a  sigh  of  discontent  broke  upon  the  ear,  nor  a  look  of 
cowardice  met  the  eye.  Every  man  expected  a  proud  day  for  his  coun- 
try, and  each  was  anxious  that  his  individual  exertion  should  contribute  to 
the  general  result. 

When  the  head  of  their  column  arrived  within  about  five  hundred  yards 
of  our  line,  orders  were  received  from  General  Hull  for  the  whole  to  re- 
treat to  the  Fort,  and  the  twenty-four  pounders  not  to  open  upon  the  ene- 
my. One  universal  burst  of  indignation  was  apparent  upon  the  receipt  of 
this  order.  Those  whose  conviction  was  the  deliberate  result  of  a  dis- 
passionate examination  of  passing  events,  saw  the  folly  and  impropriety 
of  crowding  1100  men  into  a  work  which  300  could  fully  man,  and  into 
which  the  shot  and  shells  of  the  enemy  were  falling.  The  Fort  was  in 
this  manner  filled :  the  men  were  directed  to  stack  their  arms,  and  scarce- 
ly was  an  opportunity  afforded  of  moving.  Shortly  after  a  white  flag  was 
hung  out  upon  the  walls.  A  British  officer  rode  up  to  enquire  the  cause. 
A  communication  passed  between  the  commanding  generals,  which  end- 
ed iu  the  capitulation  submitted  to  you.  In  entering  into  this  capitula- 
tion the  general  took  counsel  from  his  own  feelings  only.  Not  an  officer 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  51 

was  consulted.    Not  one  anticipated  a  surrender,  till  he  saw  the  white- 
flag  displayed  ;  even  the  women  were  indignant  at  so  shameful  a  degra- 
dation of  the  American  character  ;   and  all  felt  as  they  should  have  felt,, 
but  he  who  held  in  his  hands  the  reins  of  authority. 

Our  morning  report  had  that  morning  made  our  effective  men  present 
fit  for  duty  1000,  without  including  the  detachment  before  alluded  to,  and 
without  including  300  of  the  Michigan  militia  on  duty.  About  dark  on 
Saturday  evening,  the  detachment  sent  to  escort  the  provisions,  received, 
orders  from  General  Hull  to  return  with  as  much  expedition  as  possible^ 
About  10  o'clock  the  next  day,  they  arrived  within  sight  of  Detroit.  Had 
a  firing  been  heard  or  any  resistance  visible,  they  would  have  advanced 
and  attacked  the  rear  of  the  enemy.  The  situation  in  which  this  detach- 
ment was  placed,  although  the  result  of  accident,  was  the  best  for  annoy- 
ing the  enemy  and  cutting  off  his  retreat  that  could  have  been  selected. 
With  his  raw  troops  enclosed  between  two  fires  and  no  hope  of  succor,  it 
is  hazarding  little  to  say,  that  very  few  would  have  escaped. 

I  have  been  informed  by  Col.  Findley,  who  saw  the  return  of  their 
quarter-master-general,  the  day  after  the  surrender,  that  their  whole  force 
of  every  description,  white,  red  and  black,  was  1030.  They  had  twenty- 
nine  platoons,  twelve  in  a  platoon,  of  men  dressed  in  uniform.  Many  of 
those  were  evidently  Canadian  militia.  The  rest  of  their  militia  increased 
their  white  force  to  about  seven  hundred  men.  The  number  of  their  In- 
dians could  not  be  ascertained  with  any  degree  of  precision ;  not  many 
were  visible.  And  in  the  event  of  an  attack  upon  the  town  and  fort,  it 
was  a  species  of  force  which  could  have  afforded  no  material  advantage 
to  the  enemy. 

In  endeavoring  to  appreciate  the  motives  and  to  investigate  the  causes 
which  led  to  an  event  so  unexpected  and  dishonorable,  it  is  impossible  to 
find  any  solution  in  the  relative  strength  of  the  contending  parties,  or  in 
the  measures  of  resistance  in  our  power.  That  we  were  far  superior  to 
the  enemy ;  that  upon  aay  ordinary  principles  of  calculation  we  would 
have  defeated  them,  the  wounded  and  indignant  feelings  of  every  man 
there  will  testify. 

A  few  days  before  the  surrender,  I  was  informed  by  Gen.  Hull,  we  had 
400  rounds  of  24  pound  shot  fixed,  and  about  100,000  cartridges  made. 
We  surrendered  with  the  fort  50  barrels  of  powder,  and  2500  stand  of  arms. 

The  state  of  our  provisions  has  not  been  generally  understood.  On 
the  day  of  surrender,  we  had  15  days  provisions  of  every  kind  on  hand. 
Of  meat,  there  was  plenty  in  the  country,  and  arrangements  had  been 
made  Jbr  purchasing  and  grinding  the  flour.  It  was  calculated  we  could 
readily  procure  three  months'  provisions,  independent  of  150  barrels  of 
flour,  1300  head  of  cattle  which  had  been  forwarded  from  the  State  of 
Ohio,  and  which  remained  at  the  River  Raisin,  under  Capt.  Brush,  within 
reach  of  the  army. 

But  had  we  been  totally  destitute  of  provisions,  our  duty  and  our  inter- 
est was  undoubtedly  to  fight.  The  enemy  invited  us  to  meet  him  in  the 
field. 

By  defeating  him  the  whole  country  would  have  been  open  tt  us,  and 
the  object  of  our  expedition  gloriously  and  successfully  obtained.  If  we 
had  been  defeated,  we  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  retreat  to  the  fort,  and 
make  the  best  defence  circumstances  and  our  situation  rendered  practica- 
ble. But  basely  to  surrender  without  firing  a  gun — tamely  to  submit 
without  raising  a  bayonet — disgracefully  to  pass  in  review  before  an  ene- 
my as  inferior  in  the  quality  as  in  the  number  oF  his  forces,  were  circum- 
stances which  excited  feelings  of  indignation  more  easily  felt  than  de- 
scribed. 


52  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

To  see  the  whole  of  our  men  flushed  with  the  hope  of  victory,  eagerly 
awaiting  the  approaching  contest,  to  see  them  afterwards  dispirited,  hope- 
less, desponding,  at  least  500  shedding  tears  because  they  were  not  al- 
lowed to  meet  their  country's  foes,  and  to  fight  their  country's  battles,  ex- 
cited sensations  which  no  American  has  ever  before  had  cause  to  feel, 
and  which  I  trust  in  God  will  never  again  be  felt,  while  one  man  remains 
to  defend  the  standard  of  the  Union. 

I  am  expressly  athorized  to  state,  that  Colonels  Me  Arthur  and  Findley, 
and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Miller  viewed  the  transaction  in  the  light  which 
I  do.  They  knew  and  I  feel  that  no  circumstance  in  our  situation,  none 
in  that  of  the  enemy,  can  excuse  a  capitulation  so  dishonorable  and  un- 
justifiable. This,  too,  is  the  universal  sentiment  among  the  troops;  and 
I  shall  be  surprised  to  learn,  that  there  is  one  man,  who  thinks  it  wag  ne- 
cessary to  sheath  his  sword,  or  to  lay  down  his  musket. 

1  was  informed  by  General  Hull,  the  morning  after  the  capitulation,  that 
the  British  forces  consisted  of  1800  regulars,  and  that  he  surrendered  to 
prevent  the  effusion  of  human  blood.  That  he  magnified  the  regular 
force  nearly  five  fold,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Whether  the  philanthropic 
reason  assigned  by  him  is  a  sufficient  justification  for  surrendering  a  forti- 
fied town,  an  army  and  a  territory,  is  for  the  government  to  determine. 

Confident  I  am.  that  had  the  courage  and  conduct  of  the  General  been 
equal  to  the  spirit  and  zeal  of  the  troops,  the  event  would  have  been  as 
brilliant  and  suceessful  as  it  now  is  disastrous  and  dishonorable. 
Very  respectfully,  sir,  &c. 

LEWIS  CASS, 

Col  3d  Reg.  Ohio  Vol. 
Hon.  WILLIAM  ECSTIS,  Secretary  of  War. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Effect  of  Surrenderor  Detroit— Volunteers  of  1812— Symms"'  Card  "— Indiaa 
Warfare — Cruelties  of  the  Savages — The  Massacre  at  the  River  Raisin — The 
Defence  of  Fort  Stephenson  by  Croghau  and  liis  brave  compeers. 

The  surrender  of  Detroit,  after  the  first  momentary  shock  of  its 
announcement,  aroused  the  spirit  and  patriotism  of  the  entire  coun- 
try, particularly  among  the  western  people,  who  felt  especially  ag- 
grieved by  the  disaster.  A  feeling,  amounting  to  eothusiasm,  per- 
vaded the  whole  community.  The  country  was  electrified.  The 
call  to  arms  was  hailed  with  rapture  by  the  pioneer  population  of 
the  West.  Men  capable  of  bearing  arms  vied  with  one  another 
who  should  be  first  to  enroll  themselves.  Men  of  all  ranks  and 
stations  in  life,  filled  the  rolls  of  volunteers.  By  the  twenty-fifth 
of  August,  nine  days  after  the  surrender,  four  thousand  men,  arm- 
ed and  equipped,  voluntarily  assembled  at  Urbana,  in  Ohio.  Gov- 
ernor Meigs,  of  that  S^ate,  was  honorably  and  conspicuously  ac- 
tive in  encouraging  the  patriotism  manifested  by  his  fellow  citizens. 
Kentucky,  Virginia,  Ohio,  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania,  poured 
forth  their  best  citizens  by  thousands.  The  city  and  county  of 
Baltimore  proposed  alone  to  raise  an  entire  regiment.  On  the 
spur  of  the  moment  eighteen  hundred  Kentuckians  marched  from 
Newport.  The  gallant  Col.  Richard  M.  Johnson,  then  member 
of  Congress  from  Kentucky,  proposed  to  raise  five  hundred  mount- 
ed men,  and  march  forthwith  to  Detroit,  trustiug  to  the  liberality 
of  Congress  for  future  indemnification.  Kentucky  was  represent-' 
ed  on  different  portions  of  the  western  frontier  by  at  least  six  thou- 
sand of  her  brave  volunteers.  Virginia  sent  out  fifteen  hundred 
men,  for  whom  the  ladies  of  Richmond  made  knapsacks  and  tents. 
The  same  hearty  patriotism,  manifesting  itself  by  deeds,  existed  in 
every  section  of  the  country.  Even  the  opponents  of  the  war  were 
effected  by  it,  and  many  of  them  became  strenuous  advocates  of 
what  they  had  previously  opposed.  . 


54  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

As  characteristic  of  the  feeling  which  animated  the  West,  the 
following  Card,  which  appeared  in  the  newspapers  of  that  day,  is 
here  inserted : 

A  CARD. — Col.  Symmes,  of  the  senior  division1  of  the  Ohio  Militia,  pre- 
sents his  respectful  compliments  to  Major-General  Brock,  commanding 
his  Britanic  Majesty's  forces,  white  and  red,  in  Upper  Canada.  Colonel 
Symmes  observing  that  by  the  4th  article  of  Capitulation  of  Fort  Detroit, 
to  Major-General  Brock,  all  public  arms,  moving  towards  Detroit,  are  to 
be  delivered  up,  but  as  no  place  of  deposit  is  pointed  out  by  the  capitula- 
tion,  forty  thousand  stand  of  arms,  coming  within  the  description,  are  at 
the  service  of  Major-General  Brock,  if  his  Excellency  will  condescend  to 
come  and  take  them ."' 

The  required  number  of  men  were  soon  in  the  field.  Brigadier 
General  William  H.  Harrison,  of  the  United  States  Army,  was  com- 
missioned as  Major-General  by  the  Governor  of  Kentucky,  and 
assumed  command  of  the  army,  numbering  about  ten  thousand  men. 

In  the  wars  which  have  taken  place  on  this  continent,  between 
rival  nations,  the  Indian  tribes  have  been  engaged.  The  British 
and  the  French  employed  them  in  their  quarrels  ;  and  in  the  Re- 
volutionary War,  and  in  the  war  of  1812,  the  Indians  fought  on 
the  side  of  the  British.  History  abounds  with  heart-rending  ac- 
counts of  Indian  outrage,  perpetrated  during  the  Revolution,  and 
the  recollection  of  the  bloody  massacres  of  the  last  war,  is  yet  viv- 
id in  the  remembrance  of  our  citizens.  No  language  can  convey 
an  adequate  idea  of  the  horrors  and  barbarities  of  Indian  warfare. 
The  Indian,  from  earliest  infancy,  is  initiated  into  the  cruelties 
and  tortures  of  exterminating  hostilities.  War  to  the  knife — the 
knife  to  the  handle,  is  the  first  teaching  he  receives  from  the  lips 
and  example  of  his  father  and  brothers.  His  ambition  is  to  use 
the  scajping  knife  and  tomahawk  with  skill  and  success.  The 
scalp  is  more  precious  than  the  prisoner.  In  the  conflict,  he  nei- 
ther asks  nor  gives  quarter.  He  or  his  enemy  must  lie  dead  on  the 
field.  Exceptions  there  are,  it  is  true,  to  this  general  practice, 
but  it  is  a  most  bloody  and  cruel  mercy  that  stays  the  death-blow. 
The  conquered  victim  had  better,  by  far,  fall  dead  beneath  the  arm 
of  his  antagonist,  than  follow  as  a  prisoner  to  the  wigwam.  In  the 
latter  case  he  is  reserved  for  far  more  dreadful  sufferings  at  the 
stake,  often  times  to  be  prepared  to  suit  the  cannibal  tastes  of  his 
victor. 

With  atrocious  disregard  of  the  dictates  of  humanity,  the  British 
government  did  not  hesitate  to  enroll  the  murderous  savages  in 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  55 

close  alliance  with  their  regular  soldiers.  They  did  this  with  the 
full  knowledge  of  the  difficulty  of  restraining  them,  when  once  the 
fight  begun,  within  the  recognized  limits  of  civilized  warfare.  In 
all  these  instances,  too,  the  bloody  instinct  of  the  savage  was  re- 
ferred to  by  their  Christian  employers  to  intimidate  and  force  their 
enemies  to  surrender. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  1812,  the  American  gov- 
ernment used  every  possible  means  to  induce  the  Indians  to  remain 
neutral  and  quiet ;  but  the  passion  for  war,  and  strong  inducements 
offered  to  them  by  the  British  Government,  were  too  powerful  to 
be  resisted.  They  were  seduced  by  promises  and  costly  presents, 
to  join  hands  against  the  United  States,  and  led  by  talented  and 
influential  chiefs,  they  rendered  many  and  valuable  services  to 
their  Christian  allies. 

It  is  net  within  the  scope  of  this  work  to  enumerate  the  frequent 
and  barbarous  butcheries  of  innocent  and  defenceless  women  and 
children,  or  the  merciless  and  disgraceful  slaughters  which  were 
permitted  by  the  British  officers,  when  the  fortunes  of  war  were 
in  their  favor.  We  have  gone  more  into  the  detail  of  Indian  char- 
acteristics than  might  seem  appropriate  to  the  present  undertaking. 
But  it  will  be  recollected  that  the  subject  of  this  work,  passed  the 
greater  part  of  the  active  portion  of  his  life,  surrounded  by  the 
warriors  of  the  woods — within  hearing  of  the  dread  war-whoop — 
and  a  witness  of  the  solemnities  of  the  war  dance  ;  that  it  was  his 
duty  as  the  representative  and  dispenser  of  the  authority  of  his  gov- 
ernment, to  negotiate  treaties  of  peace  and  amity  with  them,  or 
if  needs  be  shoulder  his  rifle  and  lead  his  men  to  conquering  com- 
bat against  them.  To  give  some  idea  of  the  fierce  and  turbulent 
spirits  with  whom  he  had  to  deal  is  the  object  of  introducing  here 
and  elsewhere,  the  evidence  of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  which 
beset  the  path  of  him  who  is  brought  in  contact  with  the  Indian, 
either  in  peace  or  war. 

In  January,  1813,  the  American  army  met  with  a  sad  reverse  at 
the  River  Raisin,  in  Michigan.  This  conflict  is  marked  with  in- 
cidents of  horror  and  barbarity,  which  stamp  it  as  one  entire  scene 
of  bloody  butchery  on  the  part  of  the  enemy,  which  finds  no  paral- 
lel in  the  history  of  war,  where  either  of  the  contending  parties 


56  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

make  pretentions  to  civilization.     This  battle  is  known  as  the 
'  Massacre  of  the  River  Raisin." 

Colonels  Lewis  and  Allen,  were  ordered  by  Gen.  Winchester, 
who  was  with  the  left  wing  of  the  army  at  Fort  Defiance,  to  pro- 
ceed with  detachments  to  Frenchtown,  a  settlement  on  the  River 
Raisin,  where  the  enemy  were  in  force,  annoying  the  inhabitants. 
The  detachments  arrived  at  Frenchtown  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
18th  of  January,  1813.  The  enemy  had  made  preparations  to  re- 
ceive them,  and  opened  a  fire  upon  them  when  they  approached  to 
within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  town.  The  river  divided  the  two 
forces.  Colonel  Lewis  crossed  with  his  command  on  the  ice,  and 
drove  the  enemy  from  the  houses  and  pickets,  where  they  were 
posted,  into  the  woods.  There  they  made  a  stand,  until  they  were 
again  dispersed  and  forced  to  relreat,  under  a  continual  charge 
from  their  pursuers.  At  dark,  the  detachment  was  drawn  off  and 
encamped  on  the  spot  from  whence  they  had  dislodged  the  enemy. 
The  vanquished  consisted  of  a  combined  force  of  one  hundred 
British  soldiers  and  four  hundred  Indians,  under  command  of  Ma- 
jor Reynolds.  Success  was  complete.  The  report  of  this  achiev- 
ment  at  Gen.  Winchester's  head  quarters,  created  an  excitement 
there  among  the  troops,  which  could  only  be  satisfied  by  their 
marching  forthwith  to  join  Colonel  Lewis.  Winchester  yielded 
to  the  desire  of  his  officers  and  men.  He  joined  Lewis  on  the  20th 
of  January,  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  took  command. 
On  the  morning  of  the  22nd,  at  daybreak,  the  American  camp  was 
attacked  by  the  British  and  Indians.  The  number  of  the  assail- 
ants was  somewhere  about  fifteen  hundred.  The  American  force 
only  eight  hundred.  The  attack  was  made  by  a  heavy  fire  of  mus- 
ketry and  field  pieces.  It  was  made  so  suddenly  and  unexpected- 
ly, that  there  was  no  time  for  forming  the  troops  advantageously  • 
to  this  difficulty,  was  added  the  unfavorable  nature  of  the  ground. 
The  assault  was  sustained  with  great  firmness  and  bravery  for  some 
time,  when  the  right  division  of  the  forces,  which  was  terribly  ex- 
posed in  an  open  field  to  a  heavy  fire,  was  ordered  to  retreat,  with 
the  object  of  occupying  ground  less  exposed.  This  movement  was 
discovered  by  the  enemy,  and  the  entire  Indian  force,  with  a 
portion  of  the  militia,  directed  their  efforts  to  break  them  and 
throw  them  nto  disorder  Bv  their  superiority  in  numbers,  they 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  57 

succeeded  in  preventing  this  part  of  our  forces  from  again  forming 
in  order  for  battle.  Indeed,  few  of  this  division  escaped ;  they 
were  surrounded  by  Indians,  and  gallantly  fought  until  their  num- 
bers were  so  reduced,  that  they  were  forced  to  surrender.  A  Ma- 
jor, Captain,  and  about  twenty-five  soldiers  only  escaped.  While 
attempting  to  reform  this  division  into  line,  Gen.  Winchester  and 
Colonel  Lewis  were  surrounded  and  taken  prisoners.  The  troops 
who  remained  at  the  breastwork,  defended  themselves  with  despe- 
ration against  fearful  odds.  It  became  evident  to  Gen.  Winches- 
ter and  his  officers,  that  a  continuance  of  the  contest  against  the 
superior  numbers  of  the  enemy,  was  but  an  unjustifiable  sacrifice 
of  the  brave  men,  whose  ranks  were  continually  growing  thinner. 
It  was  resolved  to  surrender  the  few  that  remained,  as  prisoners  of 
war,  on  condition  that  their  lives  should  be  spared,  and  their  pri- 
vate property  protected.  The  truth  was,  that  no  alternative  re- 
mained but  surrender  or  general  massacre.  The  ammunition  was 
nearly  exhausted,  the  enemy  were  concentrating  their  forces  with 
a  view  to  burn  the  town,  and  it  was  declared  that  no  attempts 
would  be  made  by  the  British  officers  to  restrain  the  ferocity  of 
the  savages,  who  surrounded  the  place  in  great  numbers.  Under 
these  circumstances  Gen.  Winchester  surrendered. 

In  this  conflict  many  feats  of  noble  daring  were  performed  by 
officers  and  men.  The  enemy  had  taken  possession  of  a  barn, 
within  rifle  shot  of  the  American  camp ;  here  they  were  perfectly 
sheltered,  while  they  fired  into  our  pickets.  It  became  important 
to  dislodge  them  from  their  safe  position.  A  single  soldier  under- 
took the  task,  and  with  almost  a  certainty  of  sacrificing  himself, 
rushed  from  the  pickets,  with  a  lighted  torch,  to  the  barn,  and  set 
it  on  fire.  The  barn  was  consumed.  The  heroic  volunteer  had 
the  good  fortune  to  return  in  safety  to  the  camp,  amid  a  shower  of 
balls  from  the  enemy's  muskets. 

Every'  promise  made  by  the  British  commander  was  violated. 
The  Indians  gratified  their  bloody  propensity  without  restraint. 
Some  of  their  prisoners  after  the  surrender,  were  tomahawked ; 
some  were  shot,  others  were  tortured  and  burned  alive  by  the  sav- 
ages. The  houses  of  our  people  were  pillaged  and  destroyed. 
The  prisoners  who  were  not  killed,  were  treated  in  the  most  inhu- 
man manner  by  the  Indians,  in  the  presence  of  British  officers,  and 


58  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

no  remonstrance  or  effort  was  made  to  restrain  them.  In  violation 
of  oft-repeated  assurances  from  Col.  Proctor,  that  the  prisoners, 
particularly  the  wounded,  should  be  provided  for  as  their  necessities 
required,  and  be  conveyed  in  sleighs  from  the  Raisin  to  Maiden, 
they  were  placed  in  charge  of  the  ruthless  and  exasperated  savages. 
They  were  made  to  travel  on  foot  through  deep  snow :  and  those 
who  were  unable  from  their  wounds  to  keep  pace  with  the  swift 
footed  tormentors,  were  tomahawked  and  scalped,  and  left  by  the 
roadside  unburied.  Among  the  wounded  was  Capt.  Nathaniel 
Hart,  of  Kentucky  ;  a  near  relative  of  Henry  Clay.  This  officer 
was  captured  after  being  wounded  in  the  knee.  He  was  not  able 
to  move,  and  at  the  request  of  an  officer  was  mounted  on  horseback. 
While  thus  situated,  and  actually  under  the  protection  of  a  British 
officer,  an  Indian  near  by  fired  at  him,  and  hit  him  on  the  head. 
He  did  not,  however,  fall  from  his  seat,  until  another  Indian  struck 
him  on  the  head  with  a  club,  and  beat  him  to  the  ground  :  he  was 
then  scalped,  stripped  of  his  clothing,  and  left  on  the  ground,  until 
under  cover  of  night,  two  days  afterwards,  his  body  was  taken  in- 
to the  woods  by  three  of  the  inhabitants,  and  covered  with  brush 
wood  to  protect  it  from  mutilation  by  the  hogs.  The  men  did  not 
dare  to  bury  the  corpse  for  fear  of  the  Indians.  The  rights  of  se- 
pulture for  the  dead  of  our  army  were  forbidden  by  the  inhuman 
Proctor,  and  their  bodies  remained  exposed  for  the  horrid  feastings 
of  dogs  and  hogs.  Bodies  which  had  been  stealthily  buried  were 
exhumed  by  the  red  fiends.  When  the  Kentucky  volunteers,  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  same  year,  marched  over  the  scene  of  massa- 
cre to  join  Gen.  Harrison  in  pursuit  of  Proctor,  they  were  greeted 
with  the  view  of  the  bleached  remains  of  their  relatives  and  friends, 
still  whitening  on  the  ground.  They  gathered  tfiem  together  and 
buried  them  with  the  honors  of  war. 

Many  of  the  prisoners  who  escaped  the  tomahawk  of  the  sav- 
age, were  subsequently  purchased  of  their  Indian  captors  by  the 
citizens  of  Detroit,  and  liberated.  Gen.  Winchester  and  his  offi- 
cers were  taken  to  Quebec. 

On  the  day  succeeding  the  battle,  the  Indians  continued  their 
atrocities.  In  one  instance  they  set  fire  to  a  house  in  which  were 
forty-eight  prisoners  Some  of  these  unfortunate  men,  attempting 
to  escape,  were  shot  down  as  they  appeared  at  the  door ;  others 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  59 

were  driven  back  and  killed  in  the  house,  and  were  consumed 
with  it. 

A  citizen  while  going  to  his  house  alone  and  unarmed,  was  fired 
at  and  wounded.  He  was  able  to  reach  home  :  his  father-in-law 
opened  the  door  to  let  him  in ;  he  just  got  within  the  house  when 
he  fell  dead  upon  the  floor.  The  Indians  who  shot  him  followed 
immediately,  and  reaching  theAuse  demanded  admission.  The 
door  was  opened  by  the  old  man,  who  was  instantly  shot  down  by 
the  Indians. 

Dr.  Gustavus  M.  Bower,  surgeon's  mate  in  the  fifth  regiment 
Kentucky  volunteers,  who  was  in  the  house  of  Jean  Baptiste  Je- 
reaume  with  the  wounded  pr  isoners,  states  that  on  the  morning 
after  the  battle,  about  daylight,  six  or  eight  Indians  came  to  the 
house.  They  sauntered  about  without  molesting  any  one,  until 
their  number  was  increased  to  two  hundred,  when  they  commenc- 
ed plundering  the  inhabitants  and  killing  the  wounded.  Dr.  Bow- 
er was  seized  by  an  Indian,  divested  of  a  part  of  his  clothing,  and 
taken  and  placed  upon  a  horse  a  short  distance  off,  with  orders 
from  his  captors  to  remain  there.  From  this  spot  he  watched  the 
actions  of  the  Indians.  He  saw  Captain  Hickman  knocked  down 
with  several  others,  at  the  door.  Supposing  from  this  that  a  gen- 
eral massacre  was  to  take  place,  he  attempted  to  reach  a  house, 
about  one  hundred  yards  distant,  to  give  the  persons  confined  there 
warning  of  their  danger.  Approaching  the  house,  he  saw  that  it 
was  surrounded  by  Indians,  and  was  thus  precluded  from  effecting 
his  purpose.  His  presence  was  at  this  moment  discovered  by  an 
Indian  chief,  named  McCarty,  who  came  up  to  him  and  delivered 
his  horse  and  blanket  to  him,  and  told  him  to  go  back  to  the  house 
he  had  left.  The  Indian  whp  first  captured  Bower  now  came  up 
and  raised  his  tomahawk  to  kill  him,  but  was  prevented  by  McCar- 
ty. Dr.  Bower  then  obeyed  McCarty's  orders,  and  when  he  reach- 
ed the  house,  saw  the  Indians  leading  away  some  prisoners,  whom 
he  afterwards  saw  lying  in  the  road,  horribly  mangled  and  naked. 
Bower  and  several  others  were  then  collected  around  a  cariole 
which  was  filled  with  plunder.  One  of  the  men  named  Blythe,  en- 
deavored to  persuade  his  captor  to  take  him  to  Maiden,  for  which 
he  offered  him  fifty  dollars.  While  making  this  agreement,  anoth- 
er Indian  stepped  up  behind  Blythe  and  tomahawked,  scalped  and 


60  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

stripped  him.  Bower's  attention  was  then  attracted  to  the  burn- 
ing houses,  which  he  knew  contained  prisoners  who  were  unable 
to  get  away.  The  houses  being  nearly  consumed,  the  Indians 
marched  off  with  Bower  and  a  few  others.  At  Sandy  Creek  they 
stopped  and  prepared  food.  They  were  eating,  when  an  Indian 
proposed  to  Searl,  one  of  the  prisoners,  to  exchange  his  moccasins 
for  Searl's  shoes,  which  he  did.  dff"hey  then  exchanged  hats,  and 
the  Indian  struck  Searl  upon  nre  shoulder  with  his  tomahawk  ; 
cutting  into  his  body.  Searl  caught  hold  of  the  weapon  and  at- 
tempted to  resist ;  but,  seeing  that  his  fate  was  inevitable,  he  closed 
his  eyes  and  quietly  awaited  the  fatal  blow,  which  clave  his  skull 
in  two.  Soon  after,  three  others  shared  the  same  fate.  Bower 
was  soon  after  taken  to  Detroit  and  ransomed  by  the  citizens  of 
that  place.  Many  other  instances  might  be  given  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  prisoners  taken  at  the  River  Raisin;  but  sufficient  have  been 
narrated  to  show  the  unparalleled  barbarity  of  Indian  warriors  when 
conquerors,  and  to  afford  the  means  of  estimating  the  great  diffi- 
culties and  trying  circumstances  attendant  upon  the  exercise  of 
power  and  authority  over  them  in  time  of  peace. 

At  the  massacre  of  Frenchtown,  perished  many  of  the  noblest 
sons  of  Kentucky.  Scarce  a  family  of  note,  in  that  patriotic 
State,  but  bewailed  the  loss  of  a  beloved  relative.  At  Frankfort, 
the  Governor  and  many  of  the  citizens  were  at  the  theatre  when 
the  sad  news  of  Winchester's  defeat  reached  there.  The  whole 
audience  at  once,  by  one  impulse,  retired  to  learn  the  details  of 
the  calamity.  Presently  fathers  were  seen  going  about  half  dis- 
tracted, and  mothers,  wives  and  sisters,  were  weeping  in  the  re- 
tirement of  their  homes.  The  voice  of  lamentation  was  heard  in 
nearly  every  dwelling.  But  like  Hull's  surrender,  this  second 
disaster  contributed  to  increase  the  ardor  of  the  people  for  revenge. 
While  they  mourned  for  the  dead,  they  resolved  to  revenge  their 
sacrifice. 

When  Gen.  Harrison  was  informed  that  Winchester  had  ad- 
vanced towards  Frenchtown,  he  immediately  prepared  to  join  him 
with  a  re-inforcement.  Having  proceeded  about  six  miles,  and 
ascertained  that  Winchester's  defeat  was  complete,  he  resolved  to 
return.  A  detachment  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  men  was  sent 
forward  to  Frenchtown,  with  directions  to  proceed  as  far  as  pos- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  61 

ble  to  assist  those  who  were  fortunate  enough  to  escape — these 
were  very  few — the  great  depth  of  snow  prevented  their  getting 
far  in  advance  of  their  pursuers.  They  were  overtaken  and  cap- 
tured. 

Immediately  after  the  affair  of  Frenchtown,  General  Harrison 
marched  his  army  to  the  rapids  of  the  Miami,  where  he  construct- 
ed Fort  Meigs.  Here,  in  May/1818,  he  was  besieged  by  two 
thousand  British  and  Indians,  under  Proctor  and  Tecumseh.  The 
bombardment  by  land  and  water  continued  several  days.  The 
enemy  first  appeared  on  the  25th  of  April,  and  on  the  9th  of  May 
were  repulsed,  routed,  and  forced  to  abandon  the  siege.  Having 
ascertained  that  they  had  left  the  vicinity,  Gen.  Harrison  left  Fort 
Meigs  under  charge  of  Gen.  Green  Clay,  and  marched  to  Lower 
Sandusky. 

Remaining  there  a  short  time,  he  proceeded  to  Franklinton, 
where  the  soldiers  were  to  assemble  to  prosecute  the  campaign, 
and  retake  the  territory  lost  by  Gen.  Hull.  Major  Croghan,  a 
young  officer  of  the  regular  army,  was  left  with  one  hundred  and 
sixty  men  at  Lower  Sandusky,  in  garrison  at  Fort  Stephenson. 
Here  he  was  attacked  by  a  large  force  under  Proctor,  and  with  but 
a  single  cannon,  repulsed  them  completely.  An  account  of  this 
siege,  though  familiar  to  the  reader,  is  worthy  of  repetition  if  it 
be  only  to  commemorate  the  invincible  courage  of  the  young  com- 
mander and  his  youthful  companions. 

On  Sunday  evening,  August  1st,  1813,  six  hundred  British  reg- 
ulars, and  from  seven  to  eight  hundred  Indians,  under  the  imme- 
diate command  of  Proctor,  appeared  before  Fort  Stephenson.  He 
made  such  disposition  of  his  troops  as  effectually  to  cut  off  the  lie- 
treat  of  the  garrison  if  they  should  attempt  one.  He  then  sent 
Col.  Elliott  and  M-vjor  Chambers  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the 
Fort,  with  the  stereotyped  assertion  that  "he  was  anxious  to  spare 
the  effusion  of  blood,  which  would  be  out  of  his  power  to  effect  if 
he  should  be  compelled  to  take  the  fort  by  storm." 

Croghan's  reply  was,  that  he  was  determined  to  defend  the  place 
to  the  last  extremity,  and  that  no  force,  however  large,  should  in- 
duce him  to  surrender.  This  reply  being  communicated  to  Proc- 
tor, he  commenced  a  brisk  fire  upon  the  fort  from  Jlis  gunboats  in 


62  LIFE    OF    GENERAL   CASS. 

the  river,  and  a  howitzer  on  shore.  The  fire  was  kept  up  through 
the  night  with  but  little  effect.  At  an  early  hour  the  next  morn- 
ing, three  six-pounders,  which,  in  the  night,  had  been  placed  on 
shore  within  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  the  pickets,  opened 
their  fire,  but  with  no  great  effect.  From  the  manoeuvres  of  Proc- 
tor, Croghan  judged  that  he  would  attempt  taking  it  by  storming 
it  at  its  northwest  angle.  With  the  best  means  in  his  power,  he 
strengthened  the  point  of  anticipated  assault.  He  had  divined 
the  intentions  of  Proctor.  Finding  that  his  guns  were  ineffectu- 
al, Proctor  formed  his  men  into  two  columns.  Lieut.  Col.  Short 
led  the  principal  one,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  advanced 
to  within  twenty  paces  of  the  lines.  The  garrison  opened  a  de- 
structive fire  upon  them,  which  threw  them  into  confusion.  They 
were  quickly  rallied  by  their  leader,  and  again  advancing,  leaped 
into  the  ditch;  just  then  the  single  six- pounder  of  the  fort  was 
brought  into  requisition.  A  fire  of  grape  was  poured  from  it 
which  killed  or  wounded  nearly  every  man  who  had  entered  the 
ditch.  The  fall  of  the  advance  threw  the  balance  of  the  column 
into  such  disorder  and  fear,  that  their  officers  were  unable  to  rally 
them.  They  retired  and  sought  safety  in  the  adjoining  woods. 
During  the  assault,  a  fire  was  kept  up  against  the  fort,  from  five 
six-pounders  and  a  howitzer.  The  only  loss  sustained  by  the  gar- 
rison was,  one  man  killed,  one  wounded.  The  loss  of  the  enemy 
was  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty.  In  the  ditch  were  found  kill- 
ed, Lieut.  Col.  Short,  one  Lieutenant  and  fifty  soldiers.  Early  on 
the  morning  of  the  3d,  the  enemy  sailed  down  the  river,  leaving 
behind  them  a  boat  containing  clothing  and  military  stores  and  se- 
veral stand  of  arms. 

The  defence  of  this  fort  was  a  desperate  undertaking.  The 
adventurous  bravery  and  daring  resolution  of  the  young  com- 
mander, achieved  what  the  wisdom  of  more  experienced  officers 
would  have  decided  to  be  impossible.  It  was  truly  a  forlorn  hope 
for  that  brave  hand  of  youths  in  their  illy  protected  fort,  to  expect 
even  to  survive  the  determined  attack  of  their  enemies.  The  pick- 
ets were  eighteen  feetjiigh;  the  bayonets  of  the  soldiers  were  nail- 
ed upon  the  side  of  the  upper  end,  pointing  downwards.  The 
charge  of  the  enemy  evinced  a  disposition  to  conquer  the  post 


LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS.  63 

at  all  hazards.  In  the  course  of  twenty-four  hours,  they  dischar- 
ged five  hundred  shots,  one  hundred  of  which  fell  within  the  fort, 
happily  doing  no  injury. 

Among  the  incidents  of  the  brilliant  defence,  showing  the  confi- 
dence of  the  enemy  in  obtaining  an  easy  victory,  was  the  inso- 
lence of  the  Indian  allies  previous  to  the  charge.  When  Elliott 
went  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  he  was  received  outside 
the  pickets  by  Ensign  Shipp.  While  conversing,  one  of  Elliott's 
Indians  came  up,  and  taking  hold  of  Shipp,  attempted  to  take  off 
his  coat.  Shipp  drove  him  off  with  his  sword.  The  Indian  was 
certain  there  would  be  a  capitulation,  and  pleased  with  Shipp's 
coat,  intended  to  secure  it  for  himself,  in  advance.  The  enemy 
intended  to  punish  with  outrageous  barbarity,  the  refusal  of  Col. 
Croghan  to  surrender.  The  threat  made  by  Elliott,  that  if  they 
were  compelled  to  take  the  fort,  there  would  be  a  general  massa- 
cre, would  have  been  realized,  had  the  event  of  the  day  been  favora- 
ble to  the  besiegers.  Col.  Short,  who  led  the  attack,  was  not  less 
bloody  minded  than  Proctor  and  his  agents.  As  he  advanced  to 
storm  the  fort,  he  shouted  to  his  men  "  to  give  the  Americans  no 
quarters." 

Scarcely  had  he  given  utterance  to  the  savage  order,  when  he 
was  laid  prostrate  by  a  shot  from  the  fort.  The  man  who  would 
refuse  quarters,  found  himself  a  supplicant  for  the  kindness  which 
he  had  resolved  to  deny  to  others.  The  men  who  were  ordered  to 
give  "no  quarters,"  were  relieved  and  treated  with  the  utmost 
kindness  by  the  soldiers  in  the  garrison ;  who,  while  the  fire  was 
kept  up  against  them,  supplied  the  suffering  and  wounded  enemy 
with  water  from  their  own  canteens. 

This  Victory,  for  such  it  may  truly  be  termed,  was  hailed  with 
joy  and  gratification.  It  was  the  turning  point  of  the  war  in  this 
section,  and  was  the  precursor  of  decisive  and  important  success, 
which  followed  closely  upon  it,  resulting  in  driving  the  enemy  from 
his  strong  holds,  and  planting  the  American  standard,  both  upon 
regained  and  conquered  territory. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Reception  of  Col.  Cass  at  Washington — His  promotion — Confidence  of  the  Gov- 
ernment in  him — Is  apppointed  Brigadier  General — He  joins  the  array  under 
, Harrison — Harrison  assigns  to  Gen.  Cass  the  command  of  the  army  at  its  de 
barkation  on  the  Canada  shore — Proctor's  flight — Movements  of  the  army  in 
Canada — Battle  of  the  Thames — Gen.  Cass.  with  Com,  Perry,  acting  as  aids  to 
Gen.  Harrison — Defeat  and  flight  of  Proctor— Is  pursued  by  Gen.  Cass — Har- 
rison's testimony  to  the  personal  exertions  and  bravery  of  Gen.  Cass — Gen. 
Cass  is  left  by  Harrison  in  command  at  Detroit — Is  appointed  Governor  of  the 
Territory  by  President  Madison — The  responsibility  of  his  Office — His  quali- 
fications— The  attachment  of  the  Citizens  of  the  Territory — His  journey  to 
Albany  in  midwinter. 

COLONEL  Cass,  on  repairing  to  Washington,  on  his  parole,  was 
received  by  the  administration  with  the  favor  due  to  his  distin- 
guished services,  in  Canada  and  Michigan.  He  held  in  Hull's  ar- 
my the  rank  of  Colonel  of  militia.  The  administration  conferred 
upon  him  a  Colonelcy  in  the  regular  service.  About  the  same  time 
he  was  also  elected  by  the  volunteers  of  Ohio  a  Major  General  of 
militia.  He  could  not,  however,  at  that  time,  take  an  active  part 
in  the  war.  He  was  not  enabled  to  do  so  until  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  year  1843.  At  the  time  of  his  appointment  as  Colo- 
nel, so  great  was  the  confidence  of  the  government  in  his  ability 
and  judgment,  that  he  was  permitted  to  select  his  own  officers  for 
the  regiment  to  be  placed  under  his  command.  For  this  purpose, 
blank  commissions  were  issued  to  him  by  the  War  Department. 
Col.  Cass  was  exchanged  and  released  from  his  parole  in  the  mid- 
dle of  January,  1813.  The  rank  of  Brigadier  General  was  con- 
ferred upon  him  in  March  following.  In  April,  the  United  States 
was  divided  into  nine  military  districts,  and  General  Cass,  with 
Gens.  Harrison  and  Me  Arthur,  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the 
eighth  division,  composed  of  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan, 
Illinois  and  Missouri. 

In  pursuance  of  his  appointment,  he  left  Washington  for  the 
west,  to  join  in  the  patriotic  movements  there,  among  the  volun- 
teers, and  attach  himself  to  the  command  of  Major  General  Harri- 
son. An  expedition  against  Maiden  was  contemplated.  General 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  66 

Harrison  was  at  Senecatown,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  Erie  flotil- 
la, under  Perry,  to  carry  his  army  to  Canada.  On  the  20th  of 
September,  1813,  the  army,  two  thousand  regulars  and  three  thou- 
sand militia,  embarked.  They  reached  the  Canadian  shore,  a  few 
miles  below  Maiden,  and  landed  on  the  27th  of  the  same  month. 
To  Gen.  Cass  was  assigned,  by  Gen.  Harrison,  the  charge  of  the 
army  at  their  debarkation  from  the  vessels.  He  formed  the  troops 
into  line  and  arranged  them  for  their  march  upon  Maiden.  The 
following  is  a  part  of  the  general  order/addressed  to  the  soldiers : 
"  Kentuckians — remember  the  river  Raisin  ;  but  remember  it  only 
when  the  victory  is  suspended.  The  revenge  of  a  soldier  cannot 
be  gratified  upon  a  fallen  enemy." 

Within  an  hour  after  landing,  the  American  force  took  posses- 
sion of  the  town.  Gen.  Proctor,  who  was  in  command  of  the  Bri- 
tish army,  retreated  up  the  Detroit  river,  carrying  with  him  every 
thing  moveable.  Before  leaving,  he  burned  the  fort,  navy-yard, 
barracks,  and  public  store  houses. 

This  sudden  flight,  betraying  cowardice  in  Proctor,  served,  in 
some  degree,  to  alienate  his  Indian  allies.  Tecumseh,  and  other 
warriors,  were  indignant  that  no  resistance  was  to  be  attempted. 
In  the  name  of  all  the  chiefs  and  warriors,  Tecumseh  addressed  a 
"talk"  to  Proctor,  in  which  he  used  plain  language  to  express  his 
displeasure  at  the  treatment  they  had  received. 

Gen.  Harrison's  army  were  entirely  destitute  of  means  of  pursu- 
ing, expeditiously,  the  retreating  enemy.  Proctor  had  laid  the 
country  under  contribution,  and  collected  upwards  of  one  thousand 
horses  for  the  use  of  his  flying  army  The  only  horse  in  our  army 
at  the  time,  was  a  small  French  pony,  devoted  to  the  use  of  the 
venerable  Gov.  Shelby,  of  Kentucky,  who  was  then  sixty-five  years 
of  age,  but  as  full  of  military  ardor  and  laudable  desire  for  revenge, 
as  any  of  the  young  officers  around  him.  On  the  29th  September, 
Gen.  Harrison  moved  up  to  Sandwich,  opposite  Detroit,  crossed 
over  and  took  possession  of  the  town  and  territory.  He  was  warm- 
ly welcomed  by  the  poor  and  oppressed  inhabitants,  who  had  been 
so  long  subjected  to  the  tyranny  and  robbery  of  their  enemies.  He 
issued  his  proclamation  reinstating  the  civil  government  which 
had  been  interrupted  by  Hull's  surrender.  The  officers  who  were, 
at  the  capitulation,  exercising  authority  within  the  territory,  were 


66  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

authorized  to  resume  their  functions ;  the  citizens  were  restored 
to  the  enjoyment  of  their  former  rights  and  privileges,  and  the  laws 
at  that  time  in  force,  were  re-established.  On  the  30th  of  Sept., 
Col.  R.  M.  Johnson  arrived  at  Detroit,  with  his  regiment  of  mount- 
ed men.  With  these  Gen.  Harrison  joined  his  army  at  Sandwich, 
and  begun  his  pursuit  after  Proctor's  army.  By  rapid  marches, 
diversified  by  skirmishes  with  parties  of  the  enemy,  he  overtook 
Proctor  near  the  Moravian  town,  on  the  river  Thames,  in  Canada, 
eighty  miles  from  Detroit.  On  the  evening  of  the  5th  of  October, 
he  forced  the  enemy  to  fight,  and  achieved  a  complete  victory  over 
the  combined  British  and  Indian  forces. 

The  road  by  which  the  Moravian  town  was  reached,  at  about 
the  distance  of  three  miles  from  the  settlement  ran  through  a  dense 
beech  forest,  and  for  most  of  the  way  near  the  bank  of  the  river 
Thames.  A  swamp  ran  parallel  with  the  river,  distant  from  it  a 
few  hundred  yards.  The  ground  between  is  high  and  dry.  Across 
this  strip  of  land  the  British  and  Indian  forces  were  drawn  up  when 
Harrison  came  up  with  them.  The  American  army  was  then  form- 
ed for  attack.  Gen.  Trotter's  brigade  formed  the  front  line,  his 
right  upon  the  road,  his  left  upon  the  swamp.  Gen.  King's  brig- 
ade, as  a  second  line,  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  in  the  rear  of 
Trotter's,  and  Child's  brigade  as  a  corps  of  reserve  in  the  rear  ot 
it.  These  three  brigades  were  commanded  by  Major  General 
King.  The  whole  of  Gen.  Desha's  division,  of  two  brigades,  was 
formed  upon  the  left  of  Trotter.  Col.  Johnson's  regiment  of 
mounted  men  were  drawn  up  in  close  column,  its  right  some  fifty 
yards  from  the  road,  its  left  upon  the  swamp.  The  duty  of  this 
regiment  was  to  charge  at  full  speed  upon  the  enemy,  with  the 
bayonet,  as  soon  as  they  discharged  their  fire.  This  was  a  new 
manoeuvre  in  military  tactics  suggested  by  the  exigency  of  the  oc- 
casion, and  was  eminently  successful. 

A  few  regulars  of  the  twenty-seventh  regiment,  under  Col.  Paul, 
occupied,  in  column  of  sections  of  four,  the  small  space  between 
the  road  and  the  river,  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  the  enemy's  ar- 
tillery. The  crochet  formed  by  the  front  line  and  Gen.  Desha's 
division,  was  an  important  point.  At  this  spot,  Gov.  Shelby  was 
posted.  Gen.  Harrison,  with  his  aids  Gen.  Cass,  Com.  Perry  and 
Capt.  Butler,  took  station  at  the  head  of  the  front  line  of  infantry 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  67 

The  army  moved  in  this  order  a  short  distance,  when  the  mounted 
men  received  the  British  fire,  and  were  ordered  to  charge;  the  hor- 
ses in  the  front  of  the  column  recoiled  from  the  fire  ;  another  was 
given  by  the  enemy,  and  the  column  getting  in  motion  broke 
through  the  enemy  with  irresistible  force.  In  one  minute  the  con- 
test in  front  was  over.  The  enemy  were  unable  to  re-form  their 
disordered  ranks,  and  our  mounted  men  charging  upon  them  with 
destructive  effect,  they  soon  surrendered.  The  contest  on  the  left 
flank  was  more  severe  and  longer  in  duration.  Col.  R.  M.  John- 
son there  engaged  with  the  Indians,  who  poured  upon  him  a  gall- 
ing fire,  which  he  returned  with  great  effect.  A  part  of  the  In- 
dian force  advanced  and  attacked  our  front  line  of  infantry,  near 
its  junction  with  Desha's  division.  They  made  a  temporary  im- 
pression upon  it,  but  Gov.  Shelby  came  up  with  a  regiment,  and, 
the  enemy  being  fired  upon,  both  in  front  and  in  rear,  made  a  pre- 
cipitate retreat,  in  which  many  of  them  were  killed.  Col.  Johnson 
was  severely  wounded,  but  as  a  recompense  for  his  sufferings, 
which  were  protracted,  he  has  the  credit  awarded  him  by  his  coun- 
trymen* of  killing,  in  personal  combat,  during  the  fight,  the  cele- 
brated chief  and  warrior, Tecumseh.  The  American  army  amoun- 
ted to  about  three  thousand  men,  superior  in  numbers  it  is  true,  to 
the  enemy,  but  the  latter  had  the  advantage  in  having  the  choice 
of  ground  and  time  in  arrangement  of  the  line  of  battle.  Of  the 
exact  force  opposed  to  Harrison,  there  is  no  satisfactory  account. 
It  is  certain  that  just  before  Proctor  fled  from  Maiden,  he  had 
there  at  least  three  thousand  Indians,  but  great  numbers,  disgusted 
with  his  pusillanimity,  left  him.  His  force  at  the  Moravian  town 
was  at  least  two  thousand.  The  white  prisoners  captured  were 
more  than  six  hundred  in  number ;  not  many  British  soldiers  were 
killed.  The  slaughter  among  the  Indians  was  much  greater;  they 
fought  with  greater  bravery,  and  sacrificed  themselves  for  the  be- 
nefit of  their  civilized  but  unnatural  allies.  Among  the  trophies 
of  this  victory,  there  were  taken  a  number  of  field  pieces,  and  se- 
veral thousand  small  arms.  Most  of  the  latter  and  two  of  the  for- 
mer were  those  taken  from  Gen.  Hull.  Excepting  one  standard,  all 
the  emblems  of  conquest  acquired  during  the  campaign  by  the 
British,  were  re-captured.  Among  the  prisoners,  were  all  the  su- 
perior officers  of  the  British  army  but  Gen.  Proctor.  He  made 


68  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

his  escape  with  some  dragoons  and  mounted  Indians,  and  although 
extraordinary  efforts  were  made  to  capture  him,  they  were  unsuc- 
cessful. In  this  battle  were  many,  conspicuous  for  deeds  of  per- 
sonal bravery.  Gen.  Cass  was  prominent  among  those,  who  by 
individual  exertions  deserved  and  received  honorable  commenda- 
tion from  the  commanding  General.  As  one  of  the  confidential 
staff  of  Gen.  Harrison,  he  rendered  important  service  in  forming 
•  the  lines  for  battle.  The  difficulty  in  the  performance  of  this  du- 
Uy,  which  is  always  highly  responsible,  was  enhanced  by  the  nature 
of  the  ground.  Woods,  marshes,  and  streams  surrounded  them, 
and  it  required  all  the  knowledge  and  discretion  of  a  military  vete- 
ran, and  which  Gen.  Cass  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree,  to  put 
our  forces  in  advantageous  positions. 

Gen.  Cass  led  the  pursuit  after  Proctor,  who  had  fled  at  the  first 
moment  of  encounter.  He  was  not  able  to  take  the  flying  Gene- 
ral, and  had  to  remain  satisfied  with  the  capture  of  his  carriage, 
baggage,  and  papers  relating  to  the  operations  of  the  enemy,  the 
possession  of  which,  from  their  disclosures,  was  considered  of  no 
small  consequence. 

Gen.  Harrison's  official  account  of  this  battle  does  justice  to  the 
brave  men  engaged  in  it.  He  speaks  in  terms  of  the  highest  en- 
comium of  Gen.  Cass,  and  acknowledges  the  valuable  aid  derived 
from  his  presence  and  exertions.  By  order  of  Gen.  Harrison  a 
part  of  Cass'  brigade  remained  at  Sandwich,  with  directions  to  fol- 
low when  their  baggage  should  arrive  from  the  lake,  where  it  had 
been  left.  "Having  no  command,"  says  Gen.  Harrison,  "  he  ten- 
dered me  his  assistance."  "I  have  already  stated  that  Gen.  Cass 
and  Com.  Perry  assisted  me  in  forming  the  troops  for  action.  The 
former  is  an  officer  of  the  greatest  merit ;  and  the  appearance  of 
the  brave  Commodore  cheered  and  animated  every  breast." 

This  decisive  and  brilliant  victory  was  the  cause  of  rejoicing 
throughout  the  Union.  It  was  indeed  a  triumph.  The  enemy 
were  driven  from  the  northwestern  frontier.  Previous  to  the  bat- 
tle of  the  Thames,  Gen.  Harrison  invested  Detroit  with  a  detach- 
ment of  his  army.  Soon  after  the  battle  an  armistice  was  conclu- 
ded with  the  hostile  Indians,  and  Gen.  Harrison  sailed  down  the 
lake  to  Buffalo  with  about  thirteen  hundred  troops.  Gen.  Cass 
was  left  in  command  at  Detroit.  No  military  movement,  of  note, 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 


occurred  during  the  winter  of  1813.  The  Indians  having  lost 
their  great  leader,  Tecumseh,  were  generally  disposed  to  remain 
quiet  and  seek  alliance  with  our  people. 

In  October,  1313,  Gen.  Cass  accepted,  from  President  Madison, 
the  appointment  of  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan.  The 
Government  felt  it  a  duty  to  bestow  some  distinguished  evidence 
of  approbation  upon  one  who  had  rendered  his  country  such  sig- 
nal service  in  time  of  need.  Nothing  seemed  more  appropriate 
than  the  bestowment  upon  him  of  civil  authority  over  the  Terri- 
tory in  whose  defence  he  had  periled  his  life.  This  appointment 
was  not  sought  for  by  Gen.  Cass,  and  he  reluctantly  decided  upon 
accepting  it.  Nor  did  he  do  so,  until  he  was  entreated  to  complj 
with  the  desire  of  the  President,  by  the  inhabitants  of  that  remote 
territory,  who,  upon  learning  the  intentions  of  the  Executive,  with 
one  voice'  joined  in  the  request  that  he  would  become  their  GOT- 
ernor.  In  his  campaign  among  them  he  had,  by  his  soldierly  frank- 
ness and  bravery,  his  promptness  in  the  hour  of  emergency,  his 
courteous  and  pleasing  manners,  won  their  respect  and  attachment. 
He  yielded  to  their  persuasions,  and,  early  in  the  winter  of  the 
same  year,  he  removed  with  his  family  from  Ohio  to  Detroit. 

The  responsibilities  which  he  now  assumed,  were  of  the  most 
trying  and  arduous  character.  Located  in  a  distant  frontier,  sur- 
rounded by  thousands  of  warlike  savages,  whose  friendship  could 
not  be  relied  on,  the  inhabitants  were  in  constant  fear  of  attacks 
from  them.  For  two  years  subsequent  to  his  assuming  the  govern- 
ment of  the  territory,  there  were  frequent  outbreaks  of  hostilities 
by  the  savages,  arising  from  their  inordinate  and  unconquerable 
propensity  to  rob,  plunder,  and  murder  the  defenceless.  To  pre- 
vent serious  consequences  resulting  from  these  outbreaks,  required 
continual  watchfulness  and  management  on  the  part  of  the  Gov- 
ernor. He  was  often  compelled  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  par- 
ties of  armed  citizens  and  soldiers,  to  resist  these  predatory  incur- 
sions of  the  Indians.  On  these  occasions  he  was  frequently  expo- 
sed to  imminent  personal  danger  ;  but  the  same  courage  and  am- 
bition to  lead,  which  characterized  him  when  commanding  our 
forces  against  regular  and  disciplined  troops,  attended  him  in  the 
Indian  hunt.  These  Indians  could  not  voluntarily  desist  from 
committing  depredations  upon  the  property  of  the  whites.  At  the 


'70  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

instance  of  the  Governor,  the  United  States  furnished  a  small  sup- 
ply of  arms  and  ammunition  for  the  use  of  the  citizens  to  defend 
themselves  against  the  attacks  of  the  Indians.  The  woods  near 
and  around  the  city  of  Detroit  afforded  them  convenience  for  re- 
treat and  shelter.  Frequently  the  inhabitants  would  assemble  en 
masse,  armed  with  such  weapons  as  they  possessed;  and  led  by  the 
Governor,  would  march  on  expeditions  against  their  tormentors. 
The  Indians  would  almost  always  succeed  in  avoiding  a  combat 
with  their  pursuers.  Once,  just  after  the  commission  of  a  most 
cruel  and  daring  outrage,  a  party  was  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
driving  away  into  the  interior,  the  Indians  who  infested  the  vicinity 
of  Detroit.  With  the  Governor  commanding,  they  marched  to  the 
Indian  camp,  but  on  arriving  there,  they  found  it  deserted.  Search- 
ing the  forest,  they  caught  sight  of  the  Indians  retreating.  The 
pursuing  party  being  on  horses,  were  impeded  by  the  trees  and  un- 
derbrush, and  the  Indians  escaped  to  the  river  Rouge,  where  they 
plundered  and  maltreated  the  settlers.  From  there  they  were 
driven  by  the  Governor  and  his  party,  and  fled  by  a  circuitous  route 
and  encamped  about  twenty  miles  north  of  Detroit,  and  from  there 
they  were  at  last  forced  to  retreat  to  Saginaw. 

The  determined  spirit  of  the  settlers  to  punish  them  for  these 
outrages,  had  the  effect  of  rendering  them  less  troublesome  ;  yet, 
for  many  years  after  the  war,  they  continued  to  annoy  the  inhabi- 
tants. They  were  sometimes  tried  for  their  offences  in  the  terri- 
torial courts.  At  the  September  term,  in  1820,  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  territory  of  Michigan,  two  Indians  were  arraigned  and 
tried.  Ke-wa-bish-kim,  for  the  murder  of  a  trader  at  Green  Bay, 
named  Ulric,  and  Ke-taw-kah,  for  killing  Dr.  Madison,  of  the  ar- 
ray. The  former  was  first  put  on  trial.  Two  interpreters  were 
sworn,  one  to  interpret  English  into  French;  another  from  French 
into  Chippewa;  but  the  Indians  not  understanding  that  language,  a 
boy  was  sworn  to  interpret  into  the  Menominee  tongue.  Ke-wa- 
bish-kim  was  asked  if  he  knew  why  he  was  brought  there.  He 
said  he  did  not.  The  Judge  said,  he  wished  to  know  why  the  In- 
dian was  there;  he  had  not  read  the  indictment,  nor  did  he  wish  or 
intend  to  :  he  would  rather  not  look  at  it.  Two  lawyers  present, 
then  examined  the  indictment,  and  informed  the  Judge,  that  the 
Indian  was  there  for  the  murder  of  a  Frenchman  at  Green  Bay. 


L1FK    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  71 

The  Indian  was  then  told,  by  the  boy,  why  he  was  there.  He  said 
he  knew  that.  The  interpreter  was  then  told  to  ask  the  Indian  if 
he  was  ready  for  trial.  The  boy  could  not  put  this  question,  be- 
cause there  was  no  such  word  as  trial  in  the  Menominee  language. 
The  Judge  told  him,  to  ask  the  Indian  "if  he  is  willing  to  pass 
before  twelve  men."  He  replied  that  he  was.  On  being  asked  if 
he  had  any  witnesses,  he  said  he  wanted  the  Indian  who  gave  him 
the  knife.  Counsel  were  assigned  to  defend  him.  He  said  he 
wanted  four  nights  to  prepare,  and  that  they  might  take  pity  on 
him  and  give  him  his  liberty.  The  Judge  granted  the  time,  and 
told  him  the  court  would  be  his  friends,  and  do  all  they  could  to 
clear  him.  He  was  then  remanded  to  prison. 

On  the  following  day,  Ke-taw-kah  was  brought  info  court.  His 
fetters  were  taken  off,  by  order  of  one  of  the  Judges,  who  said  it 
was  wrong  for  any  one  to  appear  in  court  in  that  manner.  Pro- 
ceedings similar  to  those  in  the  case  of  Ke-wa-bish-kim  took  place. 
One  of  the  Judges  directed  that  the  counsel  for  the  government 
should  stand  up  and  be  pointed  out  to  the  Indian.  To  this  they 
objected,  as  they  did  not  desire  to  be  made  liable  to  the  prisoner's 
resentment,  in  case  of  his  acquittal.  After  several  days  discus- 
sion upon  points  of  practice,  law,  &c.,  the  Indians  were  tried  and 
convicted,  and  sentence  of  death  passed  upon  them.  Thursday 
Dec.  27th,  1821,  was  the  day  appointed  for  their  execution.  While 
in  jail,  they  prepared  themselves  after  their  own  customs,  to  meet 
their  fate.  All  the  tobacco,  pipes  and  other  articles  they  could 
procure,  were  laid  aside  as  an  offering  for  the  great  Spirit.  By 
drawing  a  piece  of  leather  over  the  vessel  which  contained  their 
drink,  they  made  a  kind  of  drum,  around  which,  having  painted 
themselves  black,  they  danced  their  death  dance.  With  some  red 
paint  which  was  given  to  them,  they  drew  upon  the  walls  of  their 
cell  figures  of  men,  beasts  and  reptiles,  and  on  their  blankets  paint- 
ed the  figure  of  an  Indian,  suspended  by  the  neck.  They  acknowl- 
edged the  justice  of  their  fate,  and  that  they  deserved  the  punish- 
ment that  awaited  them.  The  gallows  was  erected  in  a  spot  where 
it  was  visible  to  them  from  the  jail ;  and  though  they  knew  it  was 
intended  for  them,  it  excited  no  expression  of  dread  or  fear  of  death. 
They  had  made  up  their  minds  to  meet  their  doom  with  true  In- 


72  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

dian  fortitude,  and  on  the  day  before  their  execution,  were  as 
cheerful  and  contented  as  at  any  time  of  their  imprisonment. 

On  the  day  of  execution  they  were  taken  from  the  jail  to  the 
Protestant  church,  where  an  appropriate  discourse  was  delivered 
to  a  large  assemblage,  by  Mr.  J.  P.  Hudson,  of  the  Mission.  They 
were  then  taken  to  the  gallows,  which  they  ascended  with  firm- 
ness and  composure.  They  shook  hands  with  their  counsel,  and 
a  few  others,  who  stood  near,  and  asked  pardon  of  the  spectators 
for  the  crimes  they  had  committed.  They  then  shook  hands  with 
each  other,  the  caps  were  then  drawn  over  their  faces,  and  the  final 
act  of  the  solemn  scene  consummated. 

Murders,  not  alone  of  whites,  but  of  their  own  people,  were  fre- 
quently committed  by  the  Indians.  Being  almost  at  all  times  drunk, 
it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  they  so  easily  and  so  often  imbru- 
ed their  hands  in  human  blood.  In  the  winter  of  1826,  in  the  af- 
ternoon of  a  day  in  January,  a  Chippewa  was  found  in  the  street, 
in  Detroit,  nearly  dead  from  a  cut  in  his  head  with  a  tomahawk. 
Kish-kaw-ko — a  notorious  war  chief,  dreaded  for  his  many  and 
atrocious  murders,  was  suspected  of  the  crime.  H^  was  sought 
after,  and  found,  with  his  son,  Big  Beaver ;  the  latter  had  Jiis  fath- 
er's tomahawk,  which  was  stained  with  blood.  When  he  was  ar- 
rested, he  said  the  blood  was  from  some  meat  he  had  been  cutting. 
Both  of  them  went  quietly  to  prison,  on  being  told  it  was  Governor 
Cass'  wish  they  should  go  there.  The  Coroner's  jury  found  a  ver- 
dict against  Big  Beaver,  as  the  principal  in  the  murder,  and  Kish- 
kaw-ko  as  accessory.  The  Indians  remained  in  jail  until  May, 
when  Kish.  was  found  one  morning  dead  in  his  cell.  A  jury  of 
inquest  returned  a  verdict  of  natural  death,  but  from  circumstan- 
ces afterwards  ascertained,  it  was  rendered  probable  that  he  poi- 
soned himself.  The  night  before,  one  of  his  wives  brought  him  a 
small  cup,  and  went  away.  Soon  after  a  number  of  Indians  called 
to  see  him,  and  held  a  long  conference,  and  when  they  went  away, 
took  leave  of  him  with  great  solemnity  and  affection.  After  they 
left,  Kish.  asked  the  jailor  to  give  him  liquor,  a  request  which  he 
never  before  made.  At  an  early  hour  the  next  morning,  the  peo- 
ple who  visited  him  the  previous  evening,  came  and  asked  to  see 
him.  When  they  found  him  dead,  they  appeared  delighted,  and 


LIFE    <"»F    GENERAL    CASS.  73 

as  if  gratified  to  find  their  expectations  realized.  All  but  a  few 
of  his  band  started  immediately  for  Saginaw.  Those  who  remain- 
ed, performed  the  funeral  ceremonies.  He  was  buried  by  moon- 
light, on  a  farm  near  the  city. 

He  was  one  of  the  most  ferocious  and  savage  chiefs  of  modern 
times.  His  influence  with  his  people  was  great,  although  he  was 
unpopular.  He  was  tall  and  athletic,  and  of  great  decision  of 
character.  He  was  attended  by  a  large  retinue  when  he  visited 
Detroit — was  peculiar  for  carrying  his  war  axe  upon  his  left  arm, 
tightly  grasped  with  his  right  hand,  as  if  in  expectation  of  striking. 
His  despotism  may  be  learned  from  the  following  occurrence  at 
Saginaw  : — One  of  his  band  killed  another.  The  friends  of  the 
victim  were  clamorous  for  revenge.  The  murderer's  friends  were 
desirous  of  saving  him  from  their  vengeance,  and  negotiated  for 
his  life.  The  conditions  were  agreed  upon,  and  the  property  of- 
fered in  fulfilment  of  the  bargain  was  about  to  be  delivered,  when 
Kish.  stepped  up  and  struck  the  murderer  dead  with  his  tomahawk. 
When  asked  why  he  interrupted  their  proceedings  and  interfered 
with  their  lawful  agreements,  he  mer.ely  replied,  "the  law  is  al- 
tered." 

Big  Beaver,  like  his  father,  was  a  powerful  and  muscular  sav- 
age ;  and  one  day  when  the  jailor's  son  went  to  see  him  in  his  cell, 
just  as  he  opened  the  door,  Big  Beaver  seized  him,  thrust  him  in- 
side, locked  the  door,  and  escaped  to  the  woods.  He  was  never 
re-taken,  but  was  not  long  after  drowned  in  Saginaw  Bay. 

The  number  of  inhabitants  of  the  Territory  did  not  exceed  four 
thousand,  and  they  were  principally  the  descendants  of  the  early 
French  settlers.  They  looked  up  to  the  Governor  for  advice  and 
assistance  in  every  emergency,  feeling  assured  that  in  him  they 
had  found  a  personal  friend,  in  whom  their  confidence  was  not 
misplaced. 

Gen.  Cass  was  pre-eminently  qualified  for  the  responsible  sta- 
tion to  which  the  President  had  appointed  him.  His  experience 
of  frontier  life — his  indomitable  spirit,  of  overcoming  difficulties, 
which  would  have  paralyzed  the  efforts  of  a  man  of  less  determi- 
nation, were  precisely  the  qualities  needed  in  whoever  should  oc- 
cupy the  important  office  of  Governor  of  Michigan. 

In  those  days,  Detroit,  and  the  few  other  settlements  in  Michi- 


74  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASJ>. 

gan,  were  looked  upon  as  mere  trading  posts.  They  were  to  a 
great  extent  cut  off  from  intercourse  with  the  settled  parts  of  the 
United  States.  The  inhabitants  were  sparsely  settled  along  the 
margin  of  the  principal  rivers  and  the  lakes,  and  their  attachment 
to  old  customs  and  manners,  their  uniform  adherence  to  the  path 
which  their  ancestors  had  %trodden,  were  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
the  rapid  increase  of  population,  or  of  bringing  to  the  notice  of 
the  eastern  world  the  really  fruitful  resources  contained  within  the 
territorial  limit.*. 

The  territory  of  Michigan  previous  to  1805,  and  after  posses- 
sion was  obtained  from  the  British  in  1796,  was  a  part  of  the  ter- 
ritorial organization  known  as  "  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
northwest  of  the  Ohio  river;"  this  was  governed  by  the  ordinance 
of  1787,  and  was  then  in  the  first  grade  of  territorial  government 
as  prescribed  by  that  ordinance  ;  that  is,  its  civil  officers,  were  a 
Governor,  Secretary,  and  three  Judges.  The  Governor  and  Judg- 
es, or  a  majority  of  them,  were  empowered  to  adopt  such  laws  of 
the  original  States,  civil  and  criminal,  as  might  be  necessary  and 
best  suited  to  the  circumstances  of  the  district.  This  proceeding 
was  subject  to  revision  by  Congress.  In  the  year  1798,  the  north- 
western territory  entered  into  the  second  grade  of  territorial  gov- 
ernment, in  which  a  general  assembly  or  legislature  is  added  to 
the  range  of  civil  officers.  To  entitle  a  district  to  be  represented 
in  this  body,  it  was  necessary  that  there  should  be  in  the  district 
five  thousand  free  male  inhabitants  of  full  age;  for  every  five  hun- 
dred free  male  inhabitants,  one  representative  was  allowed.  Mich- 
igan was  represented  that  year  by  one  representative  in  the  gene- 
ral assembly  at  Chillicothe. 

In  January,  1805,  Indiana  was  erected  into  a  separate  govern- 
ment, and  the  residue  of  the  Northwest  Territory  was  divided  into 
the  Illinois  and  Michigan  territories.  On  the  first  of  July  of  the 
same  year,  the  territorial  government  of  Michigan  was  organized 
at  Detroit,  by  Gen.  Hull,  who  had  been  recently  appointed  Gov- 
ernor. At  this  time,  the  quantity  of  land  within  the  newly  organ- 
ized territory,  at  the  actual  disposal  of  the  government,  was  small  ; 
principally  embraced  east  of  a  line  running  from  the  river  Raisin 
to  Lake  St.  Clair,  at  a  distance  of  six  miles  from  the  shore  of  lake 
Erie  and  the  river  Detroit.  At  this  time  negotiations  were  com- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.         ,  75 

menced  in  relation  to  the  titles  of  land.  It  was  found  that  not 
more  than  six  tracts  in  the  whole  territory  were  legally  held  by  the 
claimants.  Lands  were  held,  in  many  instances,  by  grants  from 
subordinate  French  and  English  officers.  Improvements  were 
made  upon  them,  and  some  of  them  had  been  held  and  occupied 
for  years,  under  this  illegal  and  uncertain  tenure.  These,  fortu- 
nately for  the  settlers,  were  confirmed  to  them  by  legal  grant  from 
the  United  States. 

Gen.  Hull,  in  1807,  held  a  treaty  at  Brownstown,  and  obtained 
from  the  Indians  a  further  cession  of  their  title  to  the  lands.  This 
was  the  first  considerable  extinguishment  of  Indian  title  :  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  cession  was  the  Maumee  bay  and  river, 
and  it  embraced  all  the  lands  lying  east  of  a  line  running  north 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Au  Glaize,  a  tributary  of  the  Miami,  until 
it  should  intersect  the  parallel  of  the  outlet  of  lake  Huron  ;  thence 
extending  in  a  northeasterly  direction  to  White  Rock,  on  lake 
Huron.  This  northerly  line  was  afterwards  adopted  as  the  princi- 
pal meridian  line  for  the  public  surveys  of  the  territory.  Subse- 
quent treaties  were  afterwards  made  with  the  Indian  tribes,  by 
Gov.  Cass,  which  will  hereafter  be  referred  to  more  in  detail. 

It  may  well  be  imagined,  that  at  this  time  the  office  of  Governor 
was  no  sinecure  or  one  of  mere  honor.  Although  the  Indians 

O 

were  in  a  measure  overawed  by  the  victory  over  Proctor  at  the 
Thames;  had  lost  their  leader  and  were  deserted  by  their  British 
allies,  they  were  by  no  means  friendly.  Hostilities  yet  existed  be- 
tween our  country  and  Great  Britain,  and  the  greatest  necessity  ex- 
isted for  the  most  untiring  vigilance.  The  country  which  had  been 
overrun  by  the  savages,  presented  a  scene  of  horror  and  devasta- 
tion, which  it  is  believed  has  been  seldom  equalled  in  the  annals 
of  civilized  warfare.  The  only  route  then  passable  between  De- 
troit and  the  nearest  settlements  in  Ohio,  presented  one  continu- 
ous array  of  proofs  of  merciless  and  savage  barbarities.  The  sym- 
pathies of  the  Governor  and  his  family,  and  of  the  citizens  of  De- 
troit generally,  were  called  into  action  by  the  sufferings  and  cap- 
tivity of  persons  who  had  become  prisoners  to  the  Indians  during 
the  war.  They  were  treated  with  most  extreme  cruelty  by  their 
savage  captors.  Many  of  them  were  brought  to  Detroit  by  the  In- 
dians, with  the  object  of  obtaining  large  ransom  for  them.  All  that 


76  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

could  be  done  by  the  humane  and  generous  citizens,  was  freely  ef- 
fected. Money  was  paid  for  them ;  they  were  taken  in,  sheltered 
and  clothed,  and  this,  too,  when  most  of  their  benefactors  them- 
selves were  reduced  to  necessity,  by  the  ravages  of  war,  and  were 
held  by  the  surrender  of  the  town  in  a  state  of  vassalage  to  British 
authority.  The  patriotic  exertions  of  the  people  were  afterwards 
remunerated  by  Congress,  as  in  strict  justice  they  deserved. 

In  the  winter  of  1813,  Gov.  Cass  was  ordered  to  repair  to  Alba- 
ny, to  give  his  testimony  on  the  trial  of  Gen.  Hull,  for  his  conduct 
of  the  northwestern  campaign.  In  company  with  several  others 
ordered  there  on  the  same  business,  the  Governor  started  from 
Detroit  on  Christmas  day.  The  journey,  for  some  distance,  was 
performed  on  horseback,  each  one  carrying  his  own  provisions. 
The  end  of  the  first  day's  ride  brought  them  to  Brownstown,  twen- 
ty miles  from  Detroit,  where  they  encamped  for  the  night.  The 
road  from  Brownstown  to  the  river  Raisin,  was  for  one-third  of  the 
distance,  one  continuous  swamp.  The  ride  was  extremely  wea- 
rying. In  crossing  the  swamp,  it  being  but  slightly  frozen  on  the 
surface,  horse  and  rider  would  frequently  become  mired  ;  and  the 
help  of  those  who  had  been  more  successful,  was  required  to  ex- 
tricate them.  On  the  evening  of  the  third  day,  they  reached  Fort 
Meigs ;  and  on  the  next  day,  such  was  the  condition  of  the  coun- 
try, that  ten  miles  were  all  they  accomplished.  Frequently  at 
night,  it  happened  they  could  not  find  a  spot  of  dry  ground  large 
enough  to  accommodate  their  encampment.  Then,  each  one  sought 
for  himself  the  best  place  to  be  found.  The  Governor  would  spread 
his  saddle  blanket  at  the  root  of  a  tree,  where  the  prospect  was 
most  promising,  and  take  up  his  lodgings  for  the  night.  The  par- 
ty at  that  inclement  season,  suffered  greatly  from  meagre  fare,  fa- 
tigue, and  the  impossibility  of  kindling  fire,  where  they  encamped. 
A  fatiguing  journey  of  five  days,  at  length  brought  them  to  Sandus- 
ky  Bay,  where  for  the  first' time  since  leaving  home,  they  had  the 
comfort  of  a  night's  rest  under  the  roof  of  an  humble  log  dwelling. 
At  Cleveland,  they  procured  a  sleigh  and  driver,  and  hastened  on 
to  Erie.  From  there  they  started  for  Buffalo  ;  on  arriving  there, 
they  found  the  town  in  ruins,  it  having  been  burnt  a  few  days 
previous,  by  the  British.  Gov.  Cass  communicated  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  the  condition  of  the  town  and  vicinity.  He  described 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  77 

it  as  exhibiting  a  scene  of  distress  and  destruction,  such  as  he 
never  before  witnessed.  The  Governor  and  his  companions  arri- 
ved at  Albany  about  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  court 
for  the  trial  of  Gen.  Hull.  A  gentleman,  who  was  present  at  the 
time  Gov.  Cass  was  called  to  the  stand,  and  who  was  himself  one 
of  the  witnesses,  states  that  when  the  Governor  appeared  and  was 
sworn,  Martin  Van  Buren,  judge  advocate,  commenced  in  rather  a 
flippant  manner,  to  propound  questions  to  him,  careless  of  their  im- 
port or  pertinency.  He  soon  learned  that  he  had  no  ordinary  man 
before  him ;  and  a  short  experience  with  the  Governor,  as  a  wit- 
ness, warned  the  judge  advocate,  that  a  more  respectful  demeanor 
and  more  carefully  formed  interrogatories,  were  due  to  the  distin- . 
guished  man  whom  he  was  examining. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Colonel  Cass  as  Governor  of  Michigan  Territory — The  arduous  duties  of  his 
Office — Examination  of  Tpper  Michigan — Is  requested  by  Government  to  as- 
certain the  disposition  of  the  Indians  in  Ohio  in  regard  to  disposing  of  their 
Lands — Is  appointed  Commissioner — Concludes  an  important  Treaty—  Urges 
the  construction  of  a  military  road  through  Ohio — Number  of  Treaties  made 
and  concluded  by  Gov.  Cass  with  Indian  Tribes — Tour  by  way  of  the  Lakes  to 
the  head-waters  of  the  Mississippi — Leaves  Detroit  in  an  open  boat — Navigates 
the  Great  Lakes  in  a  canoe — Perils  of  the  Route — Personal  exposure  of  GOVJ 
Cass  in  resenting  an  insult  to  his  Country's  Flag — His  determination  and  the 
successful  results  of  his  expedition — Is  appointed  to  negotiate  Treaties  of 
Peace  between  hostile  Tribes — Accomplishes  his  purpose — A  novel  Temper- 
ance Lecture — Treaty  at  Fond  du  Lac — Gov.  Cass'  address  to  the  Pottawato- 
mies  and  Miamis. 

As  the  executive  officer  of  Michigan,  Gen.  Cass  found  a  multi- 
plicity of  objects,  calling  for  the  exercise  of  his  powers  as  a  states- 
man. It  is  rarely  that  military  skill  and  eminence  in  the  civil  de- 
partments of  government,  are  found  combined  in  the  same  indi- 
vidual. When  they  do  so  exist,  that  people  may  be  regarded  as 
truly  fortunate  who  are  placed  under  the  government  of  one  who 
is  alike  able  to  lead  them  to  victory  against  their  enemies,  and  de- 
vise good  and  wholesome  laws  for  the  protection  of  their  civil 
rights,  and  the  establishment  of  their  social  happiness.  Such  ap- 
pears to  have  been  both  the  ambition  and  the  result  of  Gen.  Cass' 
administration.  Consequent  upon  the  ravages  of  war,  disorder 
reigned  ;  it  was  as  if  order  and  civil  government  were  to  be  insti- 
tuted de  novo  ;  chaos  changed  to  system  and  harmony.  The  civil 
divisions  of  the  Territory  were  to  be  defined,  courts  established, 
officers  and  magistrates  appointed,  and  measures  cornmenced  to 
develope  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  attract  towards  it  the 
attention  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  States.  Besides  all  these,  there 
were  formidable  bands  of  Indians  within  the  Territory  who  were 
to  be  conciliated  and  induced  or  forced  to  enter  into  treaties  of 
amity  and  peace.  The  Indian  title  was  to  be  extinguished  to  vast 
tracts  of  land,  not  only  within  the  Territorial  limits,  but  else- 
where, northwest  of  the  Ohio.  A  policy  was  to  be  formed  and 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  79 

adopted  towards  these  savage  owners  of  the  right  of  soil,  which 
should  become  a  permanent  institution  of  the  government.  There 
were  prejudices,  too,  to  combat,  in  regard  to  the  natural  resources 
of  Michigan,  which  had  their  origin  in  ignorance,  to  which,  per- 
haps, may  be  added,  the  inducement  of  interest. 

Persons  acting  in  an  official  capacity,  had  circulated  through 
the  newspapers  of  the  day,  that  the  interior  of  Michigan  was  one 
vast  morass,  entirely  useless  to  the  white  man  for  purposes  of  ag- 
riculture, if  not  altogether  inaccessible  to  his  enterprise  and  pio- 
neering spirit. 

The  lands  of  Michigan,  now  well  known  and  celebrated  for  their 
beautiful  formation,  fruitful  qualities  and  facilities  of  tillage,  were 
then  represented  as  unfit  to  be  given  away.  To  overcome  these 
unfounded  and  injurious  prejudices,  was  one  of  the  undertakings 
which  Gov.  Cass  conceived  to  be  his  duty.  For  this  object  he 
projected  and  encouraged  expeditions  to  explore  and  examine  the 
country,  himself  often  accompanying  the  expedition. 

In  1819,  an  exploring  expedition  upon  an  extensive  scale,  having 
in  view  the  examination  of  the  upper  country  of  the  peninsula, 
even  to  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi,  was  projected ;  and  in  the 
following  year  was  undertaken  and  accomplished  by  him.  Incal- 
culable benefits  were  derived  from  these  enterprizes.  The  actual 
condition,  appearance,  and  nature  of  the  country,  were  satisfac- 
torily ascertained.  His  reports  and  notes  of  the  route,  were  pub- 
lished, and  brought  into  notice  the  immense  prairies  and  openings 
of  the  West.  Hundreds  were  induced  to  emigrate  thither  from 
the  less  fertile  lands,  and  more  laborious  tillage  of  the  East.  This 
expedition  and  its  influences,  will  hereafter  be  considered 

In  1817,  it  was  deemed  advisable  by  the  Government  to  attempt 
the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title  to  all  the  land  claimed  by 
them  within  the  limits  of  the  State  of  Ohio.  Gov.  Cass  was  selec- 
ted by  the  President  to  ascertain  by  personal  interview  with  the 
chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  several  tribes  who  claimed  the  lands, 
how  far  it  would  be  practicable  to  carry  into  effect  the  wishes  of 
the  Government.  The  proceedings  were  left  discretionary  with 
the  Governor.  If  he  should  find  that  it  would  be  impossible  or 
impolitic  to  endeavor  to  obtain  all  the  country  claimed,  his  nego- 


80  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

tiation  was  to  be  confined  to  an  attempt  to  procure  the  relinquish- 
ment  of  a  portion. 

Accordingly,  in  the  month  of  April,  in  that  year,  the  Governor 
proceeded  to  Lower  Sandusky,  in  Ohio,  to  ascertain  the  views  of 
the  Indians  on  the  subject  of  his  mission.     He  learned  there,  that 
there  was  but  little  doubt  but  that  the  Indians  would  consent  to 
cede  a  considerable  portion  of  their  country.     Upon  his  report  to 
the  acting  Secretary  of  War,  a  commission  was  issued,  in  the  fol- 
lowing May,  authorizing  Gov.  Cass  and  Gen.  McArthur  to  nego- 
tiate a  treaty.     No  definite  instructions  were  given  in  regard  to  its 
provisions,    further    than  that  the  commissioners  should  keep  in 
view  the  desire  of  the  Government  to  effect  the  peaceable  removal 
of  the  Indians  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  to  lands   west  of  the 
Mississippi  river.     All  besides  was  left  to  the  judgment  and  discre- 
tion of  the  commissioners.      In  pursuance  of  this  authority,  Gov. 
Cass,   with  his  associate,  caused  the  sachems,  chiefs  and  warriors 
of  the  Wyandott,  Senesa,  Delaware,  Shawnee,  Pottawatomie,  Ot- 
tawa and  Chippewa  tribes  of  Indians,  to  assemble  at  Fort  Meigs, 
in  Ohio.     They  met  them  there,  and  on  the  29th  of  September, 
1817,  concluded  and  signed  a  treaty,  by  which  those  tribes  ceded 
to  the  United  States  nearly  all  the  land  which  they  claimed  within 
the  limits  of  Ohio,  a  part  in  the  State  of  Indiana,  and  a  portion  in 
the  Michigan  territory.     This  was  one  of  the  most  important  In- 
dian treaties  ever  negotiated  in  the  United  States.     It  attached  the 
isolated  population  of  Michigan  to  the  five  hundred  thousand  in- 
habitants of  Ohio ;  it  made  the  territory  of  Michigan,   in  a  fuller 
sense,  a  constituent  part  of  the  American  Union,  and  removed,  for 
ever,  apprehensions  that  then  existed,  of  a  powerful   and  inimical 
confederacy    among  the  Indian  tribes.     There  were    difficulties, 
attending  its  successful  accomplishment,  which  required  all  the  ex- 
perience and  sagacity  of  the  commissioners  to  overcome.     The 
Indians  were  in  a  feverish  state  of  excitement ;  when  the  negotia- 
tion was  completed,  they  were  reluctant  to  part  with  their  lands. 
They  did  not  contemplate  with  any  degree  of  pleasure,  the  pros- 
pect of  a  new  home  beyond  the  distant  Mississippi.     They  prefer- 
red to  retain  their  old  hunting  grounds,  that  they  might  linger  un- 
molested amid  their  accustomed  haunts  ;  around  the  places  of  their 
birth  and  the  graves  of  their  sires.  9 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  81 

Moreover,  they  had  become  informed  of  the  value  to  the  United 
States,  of  the  desired  acquisition.  By  intercourse  with  our  own 
people,  they  had  learned  the  pecuniary  value  of  the  soil,  as  well 
as  its  importance  as  a  connecting  link,  binding  together  our  north- 
western frontier.  Its  acquisition,  too,  was  rendered"more  difficult 
from  the  fact,  that  a  greater  portion  of  it  was  owned  by  the  Wy- 
andotts,  a  high  spirited  people.  It  was  their  last  possession,  and 
when  they  parted  with  it,  they  would  cease  to  be  hunters ;  they 
would  have  taken  a  step  which  would,  as  it  were,  blot  out  of  ex- 
istence their  character  and  customs  as  hunters  and  warriors.  They 
were  solicited  to  give  up,  absolutely,  that  which  for  ages  they  had 
enjoyed,  and  which  formed  the  zest  and  charm  of  their  existence. 
Yet,  against  all  these  obstacles,  the  wisdom  and  tact  of  our  com- 
missioners succeeded,  and  the  Indian  title  was  extinguished  to 
nearly  four  millions  of  acres,  of  a  country  beautiful  and  valuable, 
fertile,  well  watered,  and  handsomely  situated. 

The  value  of  the  service  rendered  to  the  country  by  the  negoti- 
ators of  this  treaty,  was  appreciated  by  the  President  and  the  Sec- 
retary of  War.  In  the  note  of  the  War  Department  acknowledg- 
ing the  receipt  of  the  treaty  at  Washington,  the  Secretary  says  : 
"  The  extent  of  the  cession  far  exceeds  my  most  sanguine  expect- 
ations, and  there  can  be  no  real  or  well  founded  objections  to  the 
amount  of  compensation  given  for  it,  except  that  it  is  not  an  ade- 
quate one.  This  treaty  may  be  considered  in  its  fiscal,  political, 
and  moral  effects,  as  the  most  important  of  any  that  we  have  hith- 
erto made  with  the  Indians." 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Governor  Cass  urged  upon  the  conside- 
ration of  the  government,  the  political  and  pecuniary  necessity  for 
constructing  a  road  from  Sandusky  to  Detroit.  Its  advantages  to 
the  government  in  a  military  and  fiscal  view,  were  pointed  out  in 
a  communication  to  the  War  Department,  so  clearly  and  argamen- 
tatively,  that  its  necessity  could  not  be  overlooked.  Had  there 
been  during  the  war,  a  good  road  running  from  the  interior  of  Ohio 
to  Detroit,  immense  sums  of  money  would  have  been  saved  to  the 
nation;  the  capacities  for  supplying  the  military  posts  on  the 
Lakes,  with  troops  and  provisions,  would  have  prevented  much  of 
the  disaster  which  befel  the  northwestern  army  at  the  outset  of  the 

6 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 


campaign.  The  government  were  induced  by  the  application  of 
Gov.  Cass  and  his  colleague,  to  commence  building  a  road  over 
the  route  indicated,  taking  in  its  course  the  well  known  morass  — 
the  Black  Swamp. 

Subsequent  to  the  negotiation  of  this  treaty,  and  within  a  period 
of  eighteen  years,  Gov.  Cass  made  and  concluded  nineteen  trea- 
ties with  the  several  tribes  of  Indians  within  our  borders,  all  of 
which,  but  one,  were  in  the  Northwest  Territory.  The  number 
of  Indians  within  the  extent  of  his  jurisdiction,  when  he  assumed 
the  superintendency  of  Indian  affairs,  was  forty-two  thousand, 
among  whom  were  nine  thousand  warriors.  The  responsibility 
resting  upon  him  was  indeed  onerous  ;  but  the  duty  to  his  country, 
and  to  all  interested,  was  faithfully  and  efficiently  discharged.  His 

care  and  control  of  these  fierce  sons  of  the  forest  commenced  at 

i 

a  time  too,  when  to  the  natural  difficulties  of  peformarice,  was  ad- 
ded imminent  personal  danger  to  the  officer.  The  war  of  1812, 
in  which  these  ferocious  allies  of  the  most  Christian  British  mon- 
arch had  borne  a  horribly  conspicuous  part,  was  still  pending;  the 
influence  of  the  British  army  was  exercised  against  his  efforts  to 
form  treaties  of  peace  and  amity  with  them  ;  the  ashes  of  the  pio- 
neer's cabin  they  had  burned,  were  still  warm  ;  and  the  scalps  of 
their  massacred  victims,  still  hung  green  in  their  wigwams.  Yet, 
in  spite  of  these  fearful  odds,  did  this  pioneer  commissioner  man- 
fully do  the  bidding  of  his  country,  in  winter  or  summer,  day  or 
night  ;  traveling  through  the  wilderness  on  foot  or  on  horse-back, 
or  making  the  tour  of  the  great  Lakes  in  a  birchen  canoe.  In  the 
discharge  of  these  duties,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  were 
disbursed  by  him,  most  of  which  was  transported  at  his  own  risk 
and  under  his  own  watchful  eye,  without  compensation  commen- 
surate with  the  hazard  of  the  undertaking  ;  sometimes  procuring 
the  means  on  his  private  credit,  of  fulfilling  treaty  stipulations, 
when  the  government  had  neglected  or  delayed  to  provide  them. 

The  prosperous  farmer,  who  surveys  with  delight  his  rich  fields 
of  ripening  grain,  upon  our  western  prairies  and  openings,  waving 
its  golden  head  beneath  a  summer's  sun  to  the  light  breeze  that 
softly  wafts  across  it,  can  scarcely  realize  the  toils,  the  privations, 
the  dangers  that  attended  the  man  who  first  obtained  for  him  the 
right  to  own  and  cultivate  his  cherished  homestead.  Seldom,  per- 


LIFE    OF    SENERAL    CASS.  83 

haps,  does  he  stop  to  think  that  he  and  his  neighbors  for  miles 
around,  are  all  indebted  to  the  exertions,  the  self-denial,  the  con- 
scientious sense  of  duty  of  one  man,  for  those  teeming  and  fruit- 
ful fields,  which  bring  gladness  to  his  heart  and  prosperity  to  his 
household.  Yet  the  public  records  of  the  government  bear  testi- 
mony that  nearly  every  foot  of  soil  in  the  northwest  was  acquired 
by  Lewis  Cass.  No  man  was  ever  so  closely  identified  with  that 
portion  of  our  country.  No  man  in  its  behalf,  has  undergone  so 
much  personal  privation ;  endured  so  much  sacrifice  of  comfort 
and  enjoyment,  or  rendered  such  great  and  signal  benefits  as  Gen- 
eral Cass. 

The  annexed  statement  will  show  the  number  of  treaties  nego- 
tiated by  Gov.  Cass;  when  and  with  what  tribes:  also  the  estima- 
ted number  of  Indians  under  his  superintendence  in  in  1813,  when 
he  assumed  Executive  duties  at  Detroit. 

Indian  Treaties  concluded  by  Gen.  Cass. 
Names  of  Tribe?.  Dates  of  Treaties. 

Wyandots,  Dclawares,.  Shawnees.  Senecas  and  Miamies July  22,  1814 

Wyandots,  Delawares,  Shawnees,  Pottawatamies,  Ottawas  and 

Chipi-ewas Sept.  29,  1817 

Delawares Oct.    3,  1818 

Miamies Oct.    6,  1818 

Pottawatamies Oct.    2,  1818 

Chippewas  of  Saginaw Sept.  24,  1819 

Chippewas  of  Saut  Ste.  Marie,  Lake  Superior June.  16,  1820 

Ottawas  of  L'Arbre,  Lake  Michigan July    6,  1820 

Chippewas,  Ottawas,  and  Potawatamies  of  Illinois Aug.  29,  1821 

Sioux,  Chippewas,  Sacs  and  Foxes  lowas  Winnebagoes,  Menom- 

onies  and  Pottawatamies Aug.  19,  1825 

Chippewas  of  Lake  Superior,  and  the  Area  northwest Aug.    5,  1826 

Miamies  of  the  Wabash Oct.  23,  1826 

Pottawatamies Oct.  16,  1826 

Chippewas,  Menomonies  and  Winnebagoes Aug.  11,  1827 

Pottawatamies Sept.  19,  1827 

Sacs  and  Foxes,  Winnebagoes,  Pottawatamies,  Ottawas  and  Chip- 
pewas   Aug.  25,  1823 

Potawatamies Sept,  20.  1828 

Chippewa,  Ottawa,  and  Pottawatamies  of  the  Illinois,  Milwaukie 

and  Monitowac July  29,  1829 

Creeks .'  April  4,  1832 

Estimate  of  the  number  of  Indians  within  the  superintendency  of  Gen.  Cass,  at 
the  period  when  this  officer  assumed  the  executive  duties  at  Detroit,  in  the 
autumn  O/1813. 

Warriors.      Souls. 

Wyandots  of  Ohio  and  Michigan 600  2,500 

Shawnees  of  Ohio  and  Indiana 120  600 

Senecas  of  Sandusky 100  500 

Delawares  of  Indiana 150 

Ottawas  of  Maumee 80 

Ottawas  of  the  Peninsula  of  Michigan 400  2,000 

Saginaws ,240  1,200 

Pottawatomies  of  St.  Joseph  do  the  Huron .f   100  500 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL   CASS. 

Fottawatomies  of  Chicago  and  Illinois  at  large .<.«  400  2,000 

Chippewas  of  Lakes  St.  ('lair  and  Huron,  and  the  precincts  of 

M  ichilimacinac 1 .000  5,000 

Chippewas  of  Lake  Superior,  and  the  region  north  of  the  Lake  of 

the  VVoods  and  head  of  the  Mississippi 2.000  10,000 

Menomonies  of  Green  Bay  and  Fox  river 600  3,000 

Win  ebagoes  of  Western  Michigan,  now  Wisconsin 1,000  5,600 

Miamies,  \Veas,  and  Piankeshaws  of  the  \Vr  abash 900  4,000 

Sioux  and  other  bands  from  the  west  of  Mississippi,  and  visiting 

or  roving  Indians  at  large COO  3,000 

8,890          41,400 

The  various  tribes  of  Indians  within  the  superintendency  of  Gov. 
Cass,  between  the  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi,  were  but  imperfectly 
known,  and  so  was  the  country  they  inhabited.  To  obtain  a  more 
thorough  knowledge  of  both ;  to  explain  to  the  Indians  the  views 
of  the  government  towards  them;  to  acquire  information  which 
•would  facilitate  and  improve  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  his 
department,  Gov.  Cass  projected  the  plan  of  making  a  tour  by  the 
way  of  the  lakes,  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  He  com- 
municated his  plan  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  with  the  objects  and 
purposes  of  the  expedition,  which  were : 

First.  A  personal  examination  of  the  different  Indian  tribes  who 
occupied  the  territory  ;  of  their  moral  and  social  condition ;  of 
their  feelings  towards  the  United  States;  of  their  numerical 
strength ;  and  of  the  various  objects  connected  with  them,  of  which 
humanity  and  sound  policy  required  that  the  government  should 
possess  an  intimate  knowledge. 

Second.  To  procure  the  extinction  of  Indian  title  to  the  land  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  straits  of  St.  Mary,  Prairie  du  Chien,  Green 
Bay,  and  open  the  communication  between  the  two  latter  places. 

Third.  The  examination  of  the  body  of  copper  in  the  vicinity 
of  Lake  Superior. 

Fourth.  To  ascertain  the  views  of  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of 
Chicago,  respecting  the  removal  of  the  Six  Nations  to  that  country. 

Fifth.  To  explain  to  the  Indians  the  views  of  the  Government 
respecting  their  intercourse  with  the  British  authorities  at  Maiden, 
and  distinctly  to  announce  to  them  that  their  visits  must  be  discon- 
tinued. 

Sixth.  To  ascertain  the  state  of  the  British  fur  trade  within  that 
part  of  our  jurisdiction. 

This  proposition,  and  its  objects,  received  the  sanction  of  gov- 
ernment, except  that  relating  to  the  further  extinguishment  of  In- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  85 

dian  title.  This  was  then  deemed  inexpedient,  further  than  to 
procure  a  cession  at  the  Saut  de  Ste.  Marie,  not  exceeding  ten  miles 
square. 

In  prosecuting  this  enterprise,  Gov.  Cass  adopted  the  most  sim- 
ple and  economical  means.  All  that.he  required  was  a  birch  ca- 
noe, with  a  complement  of  experienced  boatmen.  No  compensa- 
tion was  asked  for  his  own  time  and  services ;  he  only  requested 
permission  to  apply  an  appropriation  already  made,  of  one  thousand 
dollars,  to  defray  the  actual  expenses  of  the  trip.  To  aid  in  ac- 
complishing all  of  the  proposed  objects  of,  the  expedition,  the  gov- 
ernment appointed  a  topographical  engineer,  and  a  gentleman  skill- 
ed in  mineralogy  and  geology,  to  accompany  the  expedition. 

On  Wednesday,  May  24th,  1820,  arrangements  for  the  expedi- 
tion being  complete,  Governor  Cass  started  from  Detroit,  accom- 
panied by  Capt.  Douglass,  of  the  engineer  corps ;  Lieut.  McCayr 
of  the  corps  of  artillery;  Dr.  Wolcott,  of  the  Indian  department; 
Henry  L.  Schoolcraft,  Esq..  a  scientific  geologist,  and  three  other 
persons,  citizens  of  Detroit.  Their  conveyances  consisted  of  three 
canoes,  propelled  by  voyageurs  and  Indians :  each  canoe  was 
adorned  with  the  flag  of  the  United  States  flying  from  the  stern. 
The  departure  of  the  paaty  caused  no  little  excitement  and  anima- 
tion among  the  inhabitants  of  the  territory,  especially  among  the 
citizens  of  Detroit.  The  wharf  and  the  shore  of  the  river  were 
lined  with  spectators.  The  novelty  and  hazard  of  the  expedition 
were  appreciated  by  all.  The  canoes  were  paddled  into  the  streara 
amid  the  cheers  and  huzzas  of  the  multitude,  and  were  propelled* 
against  a  strong  wind  and  current  with  astonishing  rapidity ;  the 
voyageurs  regulating  the  strokes  of  their  paddles  by  one  of  their 
singular  and  exhilerating  row  songs,  and  the  Indians  encouraging 
each  other  by  shouts  of  exultation.  On  leaving  the  shore,  consid- 
erable exertion  was  made,  both  by  the  voyageurs  and  Indians,  to- 
obtain  the  lead,  and  a  handsome  boat  race  was  witnessed,  in  which 
the  Indians  displayed  their  superior  skill,  and  soon  left  the  other 
canoes  far  behind.  This  expedition,  commenced  with  the  appro- 
bation of  the  government,  and  under  encouraging  support  from 
residents  near  the  country  to  be  explored,  was  prosecuted  with  vi- 
gor and  determination.  The  party,  notwithstanding  they  were 
impeded  by  head  winds,  arrived  at  Mackinac  on  the  10th  of  June, 


86  LIFE    OF    GENERAL  CASS. 

having  traversed  about  four  hundred  miles.  There  they  procured 
canoes  of  a  larger  size  than  those  in  which  they  left  Detroit.  From 
Mackinac  they  proceeded  to  the  Saut  of  Ste.  Marie,  where  Gov- 
ernor Cass  negotiated  with  the  Chippewas  for  a  cession  of  sixteen 
square  miles  of  land,  as  instructed  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  military  post.  This  was  an  import- 
ant acquisition;  one  absolutely  necessary  for  the  preservation  of 
good  feeling  and  amity  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  inhabiting  the 
upper  country. 

Persons  hostilely  disposed  towards  our  government,  and  jealous 
of  the  influence  which  it  was  gaining  over  the  numerous  tribes  of 
Indians,  were  in  the  habit  of  resorting  to  this  point  from  the  Brit- 
ish outposts  and  trading  stations,  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  by 
false  tales,  and  by  bestowing  presents,  the  minds  of  the  Indians 
against  our  officers.  By  evil  counsel  and  the  most  corrupt  means, 
they  partially  succeeded  in  throwing  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
treaty  negotiations.  The  cession  above  spoken  of,  preparatory  to 
the  establishment  of  a  military  force  there,  to  overawe  the  inimical 
and  hostilely  disposed  savages  and  prevent  the  visits  of  British  em- 
issaries, was  in  the  highest  degree  advantageous  to  the  country. 
The  Saut  Ste.  Marie  was  the  key  to  the  country  around  and  north 
of  Lake  Superior.  It  was  the  thoroughfare  through  which  the 
Indians  passed  to  receive  their  presents  and  medals  at  the  British 
post  on  Drummond's  Island,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  Mary. 
Its  importance  to  the  United  States,  could  not  be  over  estimated. 
It  was  on  the  occasion  of  effecting  this  treaty,  that  Gov.  Cass  dis- 
played, at  the  peril  of  his  life,  that  personal  courage  and  indiffe- 
rence to  danger,  by  which  singly  and  unarmed,  he  vindicated  the 
insulted  dignity  of  his  country,  and  overawed  by  moral  force,  a 
band  of  armed  and  angry  chiefs.  A  gentleman  who  accompanied 
the  expedition,  gives  the  following  narrative  of  the  occurrence : — 
A  chief  who  was  called  the  "  Count,"  appeared  in  the  council  at 
Ste.  Marie,  in  the  full  dress  of  a  British  officer  of  rank,  and  during 
the  conference,  showed  the  greatest  aversion  to  the  Americans. 
When  the  chiefs  were  about  to  retire,  this  fellow,  standing  by  the 
presents  which  laid  in  the  centre  of  the  marquee,  where  the  coun- 
cil was  held,  with  great  contempt  kicked  them  aside,  and  rushed 
out  of  the  marquee.  In  a  few  minutes  the  British  flag,  and  not  an 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  87 

American  one,  was  seen  flying  within  thirty  rods,  and  in  front  of  the 
Governor's  camp,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  Indian  lodges.  Immedi- 
ately the  Governor,  unattended  by  any  of  his  party,  walked  to  the 
lodge  where  the  flag  was  raised,  and  by  which  the  chiefs  who  had 
been  in  the  council  were  standing,  and  seizing  the  flag,  dashed  it 
to  the  ground  and  trampled  it  under  his  feet.  The  Indians  appear- 
ed to  be  panic  struck  by  this  daring  act.  The  Governor  called  to 
the  interpreter  and  remonstrated  with  the  chiefs  upon  the  impropri- 
ety of  their  conduct,  and  upon  the  hostile  feelings  which  they  dis- 
played by  this  act  towards  the  United  States.  He  also  stated  to  them 
the  inevitable  result  to  which  such  conduct  must  lead,  and  that  a 
repetition  of  it,  while  he  was  there,  would  not  pass  unpunished. 
In  less  than  fifteen  minutes,  the  squaws  belonging  to  the  lodges, 
with  all  their  children,  had  abandoned  their  camp*,  and  were  safely 
landed  on  the  British  shore,  and  appearances  indicated  an  immedi- 
ate attack  by  the  Indians  upon  the  party.  On  the  part  of  the  ex- 
ploring party,  preparations  were  instantly  made  for  defence  against 
any  attack  which  might  be  made  by  the  Indians.  But  the  firmness 
of  the  Governor  effected  what  had  been  nearly  despaired  of.  In  a 
short  time  the  old  chiefs  sent  to  the  Governor  and  disavowed  the 
act.  They  attributed  it  to  their  young  men,  and  expressed  their 
sincere  regret  at  its  occurrence.  They  also  requested  a  renewal 
of  the  council  and  professed  their  readiness  to  make  the  cession 
of  land  asked  for  by  the  United  States.  The  council  was  renewed 
and  in  a  short  time  the  treaty  was  consummated. 

These  same  Indians,  acting  under  the  influence  of  British  emis* 
saries,  had,  before  this  event,  insulted  American  officers  who  visited 
the  Saut.  They  were  aware  of  the  object  of  our  government  in 
desiring  to  obtain  this  cession  of  (and,  which  doubtless  made  them 
more  reluctant  to  part  with  it,  than  otherwise  they  would  have 
been.  Had  not  Governor  Cass  met  the  emergency  precisely  as 
he  did,  intimidating  the  Indians  by  his  heroism,  the  object  would 
not  have  been  accomplished  at  that  time. 

From  the  Saut  Ste.  Marie,  the  party  coasted  along  the  southern 
shore  of  Lake  Superior  to  the  Fond  du  Lac :  ascended  the  St. 
Louis  to  one  of  its  sources ;  and  descended  a  tributary  stream  of 
Sandy  Lake  to  the  Mississippi  river ;  thence  ascending  to  the  Up- 
per Red  Cedar  Lake,  the  principal  tributary  of  the  Mississippi, 


OO  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

From  this  they  descended  the  Mississippi  fourteen  hundred  miles 
to  Prairie  du  Cbien,  passing  on  the  route  the  post  of  St..  Peter's. 
They  then  navigated  the  Wisconsin  river  to  the  Portage,  entered 
the  Fox  river  and  descended  it  to  Green  Bay.  At  this  point  a  por- 
tion of  the  party  separated  from  Gov.  Cass,  intending,  for  topo- 
graphical exploration,  to  coast  along  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Mi- 
chigan to  Mackinac.  The  Governor  returned  to  Detroit  by  way 
of  Chicago.  He  arrived  at  the  latter  place  on  the  llth  of  Sep- 
tember, having  been  traveling  since  the  2Uth  of  the  preceding  May, 
during  which  time  he  traversed  over  five  thousand  miles  of  fron- 
tier in  his  canoes;  held  various  treaties  with  the  Indians;  obtain- 
ed valuable  accessions  of  territory ;  explored  a  hitherto  unknown 
region  of  country ;  procured  additional  knowledge  of  the  feelings, 
views,  disposition,  character,  customs  and  numbers  of  the  Indians, 
and  a  more  accurate  topography  of  the  vast  country  watered  by 
the  Great  Lakes.  The  proposed  objects  of  his  expedition  were 
fully  and  satisfactorily  accomplished. 

In  the  year  1825,  Governor  Cass  and  Governor  Clarke,  of  Mis- 
souri, were  appointed  commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  to  meet  the  Indians  of  the  extreme  northwest,  at  Prairie 
du  Chien,  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the  hostile  tribes 
inhabiting  that  region.  Wars  for  many  years  had  been  carried  on 
between  the  Chippewas  and  Sioux ;  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  and  the 
Sioux ;  and  the  lowas  and  Sioux.  This  existence  of  hostilities 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  if  permitted  to  con- 
tinue, would  in  a  short  time  have  been  productive  of  incalculable 
efil.  Its  influence  upon  the  other  tribes  on  the  Missouri  and  Mis- 
sissippi rivers,  and  on  the  lakes,  would  have  been  to  involve  them 
all  in  general  warfare ;  retarding  the  advancement  of  the  country 
and  creating  new  obstacles  to  their  removal  beyond  the  Mississippi. 
Accordingly,  to  promote  peace  among  the  several  tribes,  and  to 
establish  boundaries  among  them,  and  remove  all  causes  of  future 
difficulty,  they  were  invited  to  assemble  at  Prairie  du  Chien  to  ac- 
complish these  objects.  The  invitation  was  generally  responded 
to,  and  large  deputations  of  the  Sioux,  Chippewas,  Sacs,  Foxes, 
Winnebagoes,  lowas,  and  Menominees,  attended  in  the  month  of 
August,  182o,  and  were  met  by  the  commissioners.  Many  of  the 
Indians  came  from  points  a  thousand  miles  distant  from  the  treaty 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  89 

ground.  The  objects  of  this  assemblage  occupied  the  attention  of 
the  council  for  several  days.  The  difficulties  attending  a  negotia- 
tion of  this,  kind  were  formidable.  The  entire  nature  of  the  trans- 
action being  different  from  an  ordinary  treaty,  where  lands  were 
to  be  given  up  on  one  side  and  a  consideration  paid  therefor  by  the 
other.  Here  there  were  no  tangible  inducements ;  no  glittering 
gold  and  showy  presents,  to  persuade  the  warriors  to  listen  to  the 
advice  of  his  white  brother.  The  consideration  of  their  conces- 
sions was  entirely  a  moral  one;  one  little  understood  and  doubtless 
quite  as  little  appreciated  by  them,  as  oftentimes  it  is  by  the  more 
civilized  and  educated.  Besides,  it  was  asking  the  turbulent  and 
war-seeking  Chippewa ;  the  brave  and  daring  Sioux,  to  lay  down 
the  tomahawk  and  extend  the  hand  of  peace  and  friendship  to  one 
another,  while  each  held  the  unavenged  trophies  of  valor,  obtain- 
ed in  deadly  combat.  To  effect,  under  such  circumstances,  the 
purpose  of  the  conference,  required  the  utmost  caution  and  pru- 
dence. It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  too,  that  the  Indian  evinces 
great  acuteness  in  denning  his  rights,  and  no  less  pertinacity  in 
maintaining  them.  In  a  conflict  of  claims  between  them,  it  is  no 
easy  task  to  reconcile  their  differences,  and  induce  concession  and 
relinquishment.  In  spite,  however,  of  all  obstacles,  and  they  were 
by  no  means  few  in  number,  or  light  in  influence,  the  commission- 
ers accomplished  the  purpose  of  their  mission. 

A  treaty  was  concluded  and  signed  on  the  19th  of  August,  1825, 
whereby  it  was  agreed  that  there  should  be  a  firm  and  perpetual 
peace  between  the  contending  tribes  :  boundaries  to  their  territory 
were  fixed.  One  principal  cause  of  hostilities,  was  the  invasion 
by  one  tribe,  of  the  hunting  grounds  claimed  by  another ;  this 
cause  was  removed  by  an  agreement,  that  no  tribe  would  hunt 
within  the  acknowledged  limits  of  another,  without  their  assent. 

To  give  solemnity  to  this  treaty,  the  commissioners  omitted 
none  of  the  ceremonies  usual  on  such  occasions,  and  to  which  the 
Indians  attached  so  great  importance.  This  token  of  respect  for 
their  reverence  for  their  time-honored  usages  and  customs,  opera- 
ted in  holding  them  more  faithfully  to  the  fulfilment  of  their  agree- 
ments. At  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  the  commissioners  enter- 
tained the  whole  assemblage  of  Indians  with  a  feast,  having  a  pe- 
culiarity attending  it  which  was  truly  novel  and  unusual  to  the 


90  LIFE    OF    GENERAL  CASS. 

guests.  The  occasion  was  made  use  of  to  explain  to  them  the 
evils  they  suffered  from  their  indulgence  in  ardent  spirits ;  and  the 
terrible  consequences  which  would  inevitably  ensue  to  them,  if 
they  continued  the  baleful  practice.  To  convince  them  that  the 
government  was  not  actuated  by  a  desire  to  save  the  cost  of  the 
liquor  they  might  consume,  and  which  it  had  been  accustomed  to 
distribute  among  them  at  treaties,  but  which  in  the  present  instance 
was  omitted,  the  commissioners  caused  an  ample  supply  of  whisky 
to  be  brought  in  among  them.  When  their  attention  was  awaken- 
ed to  the  subject,  Gov.  Cass  ordered  the  vessels  containing  the  li- 
quor to  be  overturned,  and  the  contents  wasted  upon  the  ground. 
The  Indians  were  greatly  disappointed  and  much  astonished  by 
this  novel  temperance  lecture. 

In  1826,  Gov.  Cass  negotiated  a  further  treaty  with  the  Chippe- 
was  at  Fond  du  Lac,  en  Lake  Superior;  a  treaty  with  the  Potta- 
watomies  on  the  Wabash,  in  Indiana;  and  a  treaty  with  the  Mi- 
amis,  also  on  the  Wabash.  These  several  treaties  were  all  of  im- 
portance to  the  country ;  accomplishing  peaceably  and  legally  the 
extinguishment  of  Indian  title,  r.nd  preparing  the  minds  of  the  In- 
dians for  removal  beyond  the  limits  of  civilized  settlements. 

At  the  treaty  of  Fond  du  Lac,  more  than  two  thousand  Indians 
assembled.  This  point  was  an  old  Indian  trading  establishment, 
on  the  St.  Louis  river,  and  distant  from  the  Saut  Ste.  Marie  five 
hundred  miles.  The  voyage  was  accomplished  in  bark  canoes, 
and  occupied  eighteen  days,  during  which  much  tempestuous  wea- 
ther and  high  seas  were  experienced.  Having  arrived  there,  a 
treaty  was  negotiated  and  signed.  The  chiefs  who  were  there,  ap- 
peared at  the  council  with  the  British  flag  and  with  British  medals 
suspended  from  their  necks.  After  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty, 
Gov.  Cass  directed  one  of  his  attendants  to  take  the  medals  and 
flag  from  the  chiefs.  This  being  done,  the  Governor  placed  the 
medals  and  flag  under  his  feet,  and  told  the  chiefs  that  when  he 
returned  he  would  give  them  the  kind  of  medals  and  flag  they  were 
to  use.  This  was  a  bold  act  on  the  part  of  the  Governor,  but  it 
impressed  the  Indians  with  his  courage,  and  made  them  listen  fa- 
vorably to  his  advice. 

At  the  treaty  with  the  Pottawatomies  and  Miamis  on  the  Wa- 
bash, in  Indiana,  in  1826,  Gov.  Cass  delivered  the  following  speech 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  91 

to  the  Indians,  and  which  is  here  given  as  a  specimen  of  the  style 
and  manner  of  his  intercourse  with  the  Indian  tribes. 

MY  CHILDREN — 

Pottawatormes  and  Miamis :  We  thank  the  Great  Spirit  that 
he  has  opened  the  paths  to  conduct  us  all  here  in  safety,  and  that  he  has 
given  us  a  clear  sky  and  a  cloudless  sun,  to  meet  together  in  this  council 
house.  Your  great  father,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  has  sent 
me,  together  with  the  two  gentlemen  who  sit  with  me,  to  meet  you  here 
upon  business  highly  important  to  you,  and  we  request  that  you  would 
open  your  ears  and  listen  attentively  to  what  we  have  to  say  to  you. 

When  the  Great  Spirit  first  placed  you  upon  this  island,  he  gave  you 
plenty  of  game  for  food  and  clothing,  and  bows  and  arrows,  with  which 
to  kill  it.  After  some  time  it  became  difficult  to  kill  the  game,  and  the 
Great  Spirit  sent  the  white  men  here,  who  supplied  you  with  guns,  pow- 
der, and  balls,  and  with,blankets  and  clothes.  We  were  then  a  very  small 
people ;  but  we  have  since  ereatly  increased,  and  we  are  now  spread  over 
the  whole  face  of  the  country.  You  have  decreased,  and  your  numbers 
are  now  much  reduced.  You  have  but  little  game,  and  it  is  difficult  for 
you  to  support  your  women  and  children  by  hunting.  Vour  Great  Father, 
whose  eyes  survey  the  whole  country,  sees  that  you  have  a  large  tract  of 
land  here,  which  ia  of  no  service  to  you.  You  do  not  cultivate  it,  and 
there  is  but  little  gained  upon  it.  The  buffalo  has  long  since  left  it,  and 
the  deer  are  going.  There  are  no  beavers,  and  there  will  soon  be  no  other 
animals  worth  hunting  upon  it. 

There  are  a  great  many  of  the  white  children  of  your  father  who 
would  be  glad  to  live  upoa  this  land.  They  would  build  houses,  and  raise 
corn,  and  cattle,  and  hogs.  You  know  that  when  a  family  grows  up  and 
becomes  large,  they  must  leave  their  father's  house  and  look  out  for  a 
place  for  themselves — so  it  is  with  your  white  brethren.  Their  family  is 
increased,  and  they  must  find  some  new  place  to  move  to.  Your  Great 
Father  is  willing  to  give  for  this  land  much  more  than  it  is  worth  to  you. 
He  is  willing  to  give  more  than  all  the  game  upon  it  would  sell  for.  He 
will  make  you  a  considerable  present  now,  and  he  will  allow  an  annuity 
hereafter.  You  know  well  that  all  he  promises,  he  will  perform. 

The  stipulations  made  to  you  heretofore  are  punctually  fulfilled.  Large 
annuities  in  specie  are  paid  to  you,  and  they  are  sufficient  to  make  you 
comfortable ;  much  more  so  than  you  were  before  the  Treaty  of  St.  Mary's, 
i our  Great  Father  is  not  only  anxious  to  purchase  the  country  of  you; 
but  he  is  desirous  that  you  should  remove  far  from  his  white  children. 
You  must  all  see  that  you  cannot  live  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  white 
people.  You  have  bad  men,  so  have  we.  Your  people  will  steal  our  horses, 
kill  our  cattle  and  hogs,  and  commit  other  injuries  upon  our  property. 
Some  of  our  people  who  have  committed  crimes,  escape  into  your  coun- 
try, and  it  becomes  difficult  to  take  them.  Besides,  when  you  divide  our 
settlements,  we  cannot  have  roads,  and  taverns,  and  ferries.  The  game, 
too,  dies  before  our  improvements,  and  when  that  goes  you  must  follow  it. 
But  above  all,  your  young  men  are  ruining  themselves  with  whisky. 

Since  within  the  recollection  of  many  of  you,  your  numbers  have  di- 
minished one-half,  and  unless  you  tako  some  decisive  step  to  check  this 
evil,  there  will  soon  not  be  a  red  man  remaining  upon  the  islands.  We 
have  tried  all  we  could  to  prevent  you  from  having  this  poison,  but  we 
cannot.  Your  bad  men  will  buy,  and  our  bad  men  will  sell.  Old  and 
young  among  you  will  drink.  You  sacrifice  your  property,  you  abandon 
your  women  and  children,  and  destroy  one  another.  There  is  but  one 
safety  for  you,  and  that  is  to  fly  from  this  mad  water.  Your  Father  owns 


92  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

a  large  country  west  of  the  Mississippi ;  he  is  anxious  that  all  of  his  red 
children  would  remove  there,  and  sit  down  in  peace  together.  There 
they  can  hunt  and  provide  for  their  women  and  children,  and  once  more 
become  a  happy  people.  We  are  authorized  to  offer  you  a  residence 
there  equal  to  your  lands  here  in  extent,  and  pay  you  an  annuity  which 
will  make  you  comfortable,  and  provide  means  for  your  removal. 

You  will  then  have  a  country  abounding  with  game,  and  you  will  also 
have  the  value  of  the  country  you  leave.  You  will  be  beyond  the  reach 
of  whisky,  for  it  cannot  reach  you  there.  Your  Great  Father  will  not 
suffer  any  of  his  white  children  to  reside  there,  for  it  is  reserved  for  his 
red  people.  It  will  be  yours  as  long  as  the  sun  shines  and  the  rain  falls. 

You  mu.4  go  before  long — you  cannot  remain  here — y6u  must  remove 
or  perish.  Now  is  the  time  for  you  to  make  a  good  bargain  for  yourselves, 
which  will  make  you  rich  and  comfortable. 

Come  forward  then,  like  wise  men,  and  accept  the  terms  we  offer. 
We  understand  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  between  Pottawatomies 
and  Miamis,  respecting  their  claims  to  this  land.  This  difference  we 
should  be  glad  to  have  you  settle  between  yourselves.  If  you  can  do 
this  it  will  be  well,  if  not.  we  shall  examine  into  the  circumstances  and 
decide  between  you. 

The  preceding  was  written  and  read  by  sentences  to  the  inter- 
preter, (Mr.  Barren,  chief  interpreter,)  who  delivered  it  to  the  In- 
dians ;  to  this  followed  a  few  extempore  remarks  by  Governor  Cass, 
viz  : — 

"Mr.  McCoy,  whom  you  know  is  a  good  man,  will  go  with  you  over  the 
Mississippi;  and  continue  to  live  among  you.  You  know  him  to  be  a 
good  man,  and  a  sincere  friend  to  you,  and  would  not  advise  you  to  do 
any  thing  that  would  be  an  injury  to  you.  You  stand  alone — there  is  none 
to  support  you — the  Shawnees  and  Dehiwares  are  all  gone.  You  have 
been  invited  by  your  Great  Father,  the  President,  and  are  now  sitting 
around  our  council  fire,  in  our  council  house,  and  under  our  flag.  Your 
young  men  are  not  always  prudent,  they  will  drink  and  quarrel — we  hope 
the  old  and  wise  men  will  keep  the  young  men  from  doing  any  injury.  If 
blood  should  be  shed  at  our  council  fire,  we  never  should  forgive  it, — we 
have  the  will  and  power  to  punish  it. 

Your  Great  Father  has  a  quick  ear,  a  sharp  eye,  and  a  long  arm.  If  a 
Pottawatomie  strikes  a  Miami,  or  a  Miami  strikes  a  I'ottawatomie,  he  strikes 
us — no  matter  where  he  goes,  we  promise  here  before  our  brethren,  red 
and  white,  we  will  never  kindle  another  council  fire,  nor  smoke  another 
pipe  before  we  punish  him.  Your  young  men  must  listen  to  what  the 
chiefs  tell  them — They  should  do  as  in  former  days,  when  chiefs  had 
power  and  the  young  men  were  wise — let  them  clear  out  their  eyes,  and 
let  the  words  I  have  spoken  go  to  their  hearts. 

You  now  have  the  propositions  we  were  authorized  to  make  you.  We 
wish  you  to  remember  it,  and  think  upon  it,  and  return  us  an  answer 
as  soon  as  possible.  When  you*  are  ready  let  us  know  it,  and  we  will 
hoist  the  flag — which  shall  be  the  signal  that  we  are  ready  to  receive 
your  answer. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Journey  to  Lake  Winnebago — Hostile  feeling  among  the  Winnebagoes — Attack 
on  the  Miners — War  Messages — Gov.  Cass  organizing  the  Miners  for  defence — 
Alarm  at  Fever  River — He  goes  to  St.  Louis — Anxiety  at  Green  Bay  for  his 
safety — Rumors  there  of  his  death — Arrival  at  Green  Bay — Treaty  of  Butte  de 
Morts — Occurrence  at  the  Treaty — Personal  danger  at  tndian  village — Provi- 
dential escape — Removal  of  Troops,  cause  of  the  Indian  difficulties — Succes- 
sive appointments  of  Gov.  Cass — His  civil  administration — His  freedom  from 
religious  intolerance — Tribute  to  the  Catholic  Missionaries — Satisfaction  of  the 
people  with  his  administration — Secret  of  his  success — His  views  on  appoint- 
ment to  office — First  Legislative  Council  of  the  Territory — Gov.  Cass  calls 
attention  to  the  existence  of  Copper  oa  the  upper  Peninsula — Removal  of  -the 
New  York  Indians — Visits  of  the  Indians  to  the  British  post  at  Maiden — He 
attempts  to  prevent  them. 

\ 

IN  the  month  of  June,  1827,  Gov.  Cass,  in  company  with  Col. 
McKenney,  left  Detroit  for  Lake  Winnebago.  They  went  to  hold 
a  council  with  the  Indians,  to  establish  the  boundary  line  between 
the  Chippewas,  the  Menoraineess,  and  Winnebagoes,  as  agreed  up- 
on at  the  treaty  of  Prairie  du  Chien ;  also  to  settle  the  boundaries 
of  the  lands  allotted  to  the  New  York  Indians.  When  they  arrived 
at  Green  Bay,  rumors  were  current  that  the  haughty  and  untame- 
able  Winnebagoes  had  evinced  hostile  feelings  towards  the  miners 
in  their  country,  and  were  endeavoring  to  enlist  the  Pottawatomies 
to  join  them  in  driving  the  whites  from  the  country.  Governor 
Cass  proceeded  at  once,  by  express,  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  for  the 
purpose  of  settling  the  difficulties.  The  Indians  conceived  that 
their  rights  were  invaded  by  the  aggressions  of  the  miners,  of 
whom  there  were  about  five  hundred.  When  he  arrived  there,  he 
found  that  rumor  had  not  exaggerated  the  state  of  affairs.  The 
Winnebagoes  were  highly  excited.  A  few  days  previous  they  mur- 
dered and  scalped  three  persons.  The  inhabitants  were  in  great 
alarm.  They  had  left  their  farms,  and  for  protection  and  defence 
had  congregated  at  one  house,  where  they  were  expecting  to  be 
attacked.  A  party  of  three  hundred  warriors  had  driven  the  mi- 
ners from  their  ground  on  Fever  river,  and  destroyed  their  tools 
and  furniture.  Two  boats  were  attacked  on  their  way  from  St. 


94  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

Peter's,  in  which  three  of  the  Indians  were  killed.  A  feeling  of 
enmity  prevailed  generally  among  the  Indians  towards  the  settlers, 
and  concerted  measures  had  been  arranged  for  their  destruction. 

Gov.  Cass  found  that  the  most  energetic  action  was  required  to 
quell  the  disturbances,  and  bring  the  refractory  Indians  to  punish- 
ment. War  messages  had  been  sent  in  every  direction.  The  set- 
tlement at  Prairie  du  Chien  was  broken  up,  and  the  inhabitants 
had  taken  shelter  in  the  fort,  where  they  were  but  poorly  provided 
with  means  of  defence.  They  numbered  only  sixty  men,  almost 
destitute  of  arms  and  ammunition.  He  organized  this  body  of  men, 
and  putting  things  in  the  best  possible  state  of  defence,  descended 
the  river  to  go  to  St.  Louis.  On  his  arrival  at  the  mines  on  the 
Fever  river,  he  found  the  miners  there  in  great  alarm.  Although 
they  numbered  three  thousand,  yet  they  were  without  means  of 
defence.  He  procured  at  Rock  Island  a  quantity  of  arras  and 
ammunition,  and  sent  them  to  the  miners.  On  arriving  at  St. 
Louis,  he  represented  the  condition  of  matters  to  Gen.  Atkinson, 
who  immediately  ordered  a  detachment  of  six  hundred  U.  States 
troops,  to  march  to  the  seat  of  trouble.  Great  anxiety  was  felt  at 
Green  Bay,  during  the  Governor's  absence,  for  his  fate ;  reports 
had  reached  there  that  he  had  been  shot  by  the  Indians.  These 
anxieties  were  removed  by  his  arrival  at  Green  Bay,  to  prosecute 
the  object  of  his  mission.  Here  he  met  some  three  thousand  In- 
dians who  had  assembled  at  the  treaty  ground.  These  he  address- 
ed, advising  them  to  preserve  peace,  at  the  same  time  informing 
them,  that  if  they  were  tired  of  peace  and  desired  a  little  war  play, 
the  United  States  would  accommodate  them. 

Gov.  Cass,  having  in  some  degree  allayed  the  excitement  among 
them,  and,  by  his  prompt  and  energetic  action,  awed  them  into 
submission,  proceeded  to  hold  the  treaty  with  them.  The  treaty 
was  concluded  at  the  Butte  de  Morts  (Hillock  of  the  dead,)  on  the 
fifteenth  of  September.  By  it,  was  obtained  the  final  settlement  of 
the  division  line  between  the  Chippewas  and  the  Menominees ; 
a  cession  of  the  Green  Bay  reservation,  and  the  determination  of 
its  limits,  and  reference  to  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
of  the  matters  in  dispute  between  the  Menominees  and  New  York 
Indians.  The  treaty  being  concluded,  the  Indians  were  preparing 
to  leave  the  ground,  when  suddenly  the  attention  of  the  assemblage 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  95 

was  arrested  by  a  wild  and  fearful  scream.  A  squaw,  having  at- 
tempted to  prevent  her  husband  from  parting  with  the  supplies  that 
had  been  given  them,  which  he  was  about  to  do,  for  whisky,  had 
been  stabbed  by  him.  He  was  taken  into  custody  by  order  of  the 
Governor,  and  arrangements  were  made  at  once  to  punish  him. 
Gov.  Cass  resolved  to  make  an  example  of  him  by  inflicting  a  pun- 
ishment which  was  regarded  by  the  Indians  as  the  most  disgrace- 
ful and  degrading  they  could  suffer.  To  the  inquiry,  "  what  shall 
be  done  with  this  man  ?"  the  Governor  replied,  "  we  will  make  a 
woman  of  him." 

The  Indians  were  all  assembled  together  around  the  Butte  de 
Morts,  the  women  and  children  being  placed  in  front.  The  offen- 
der was  then  brought  before  them,  and  Gov.  Cass,  through  an  in- 
terpreter, explained  to  them  what  he  was  about  to  do.  He  spoke 
to  them  of  the  kind  intention  of  the  woman,  of  her  object  in  at- 
tempting to  preserve  their  provisions  and  clothing  from  the  grasp 
of  the  heartless  whisky  dealer ;  that,  further,  the  man  had  struck 
her  with  his  knife,  and,  but  for  the  interference  of  others,  would 
have  deprived  her  of  life;  that  the  man  who  could  commit  such  a 
deed  upon  a  helpless  woman,  was  unfit  to  rank  among  braves,  and 
forfeited  his  character  as  a  man.  The  warriors  were  highly  incens- 
ed at  the  interference  of  Gov.  Cass.  and  a  desire  to  resist  his  orders 
was  manifested  by  them.  But  he  proceeded  unmoved  in  the  per- 
formance of  the  ceremony.  The  Indian  was  deprived  of  his  leg- 
gins  and  ornaments,  his  knife  taken  from  him,  the  blade  broken 
off  and  the  handle  returned  to  him.  A  dirty  petticoat,  procured 
from  an  old  squaw,  was  then  put  on  him,  and,  thus  dressed,  he  was 
led  through  the  crowd,  and  pronounced  "  henceforth  a  woman !" 
This  sentence  was  far  more  terrible  to  the  Indian  than  death  itself. 
It  separated  him,  for  ever,  from  association  with  the  braves  of  his 
tribe,  and  subjected  him  to  all  the  drudgery  and  servile  labor  to 
which  the  Indians  subject  their  females. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  arrival  of  Governor  Cass 
at  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  his  subsequent  expeditious  movements, 
checked  and  thwarted  a  general  confederation  among  the  Indians 
of  the  Mississippi  and  the  lakes,  for  the  destruction  of  the  miners 
and  settlers.  It  was  ascertained  that  the  Winnebagoes  had  sent 
the  war  pipe  and  club  to  call  to  their  aid  their  red  brethren :  that 


yb  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

they  were  gathering  to  devise  measures  to  act  together  In  the 
course  of  two  months,  occupied  on  business  relating  to  this  move- 
ment of  the  Indians,  Gov.  Cass  traveled  three  thousand  five  hun- 
dred miles.  He  is  said  to  have  made  the  trip  from  Prairie  du  Chien 
to  St.  Louis  in  seven  days,  the  shortest  time  then  known.  When 
descending  the  Wisconsin  river,  with  Major  Forsyth,  he  stopped 
to  visit  a  Winnebago  village,  which  was  so  secluded  as  to  escape 
the  observation  of  any  one  on  the  river,  not  knowing  its  existence. 
Wishing  to  have  a  friendly  intercourse  with  the  chiefs,  he  entered 
the  village  alone.  As  he  ascended  a  small  eminence,  on  which 
the  lodges  were  erected,  a  young  Indian  took  deliberate  aim  at 
him,  and  was  about  to  fire,  when  an  older  Indian  struck  up  his 
gun,  exclaiming — "  What  are  you  doing?  You  will  ruin  us  all!'1 
Upon  his  approach  they  began  to  take  down  their  wigwams ;  the 
women  and  children  fled,  carrying  away,  as  secretly  as  they  were 
able,  the  arms  and  ammunition  of  the  village.  As  the  Governor 
was  leaving  the  place,  a  gun  was  pointed  at  him  by  an  Indian.  It 
providentially  missed  fire.  This  refusal  of  the  gun  to  go  off,  was 
regarded  by  the  Indians  as  a  token  of  displeasure  from  the  Great 
Spirit,  and  the  attempt  was  not  renewed.  These  circumstances 
were  told  by  the  Indians  themselves,  at  the  subsequent  treaty  of 
Butte  des  Morts. 

When  the  Governor  was  at  Chicago,  he  sent  to  a  Pottawatomie 
chief,  who  lived  near  there,  to  come  and  see  him.  The  chief  re- 
fused to  comply  with  the  request,  and  sent  word  to  the  Governor, 
that,  if  he  wished  to  see  him,  he  must  come  to  his  lodge,  and,  when 
he  got  there,  he  would  have  his  head  taken  off. 

The  Indian  difficulties  of  this  year  were  attributable  to  the  with- 
drawal of  the  troops  from  most  of  the  posts  which  they  had  occu- 
pied in  the  Indian  country.  They  knew  that  there  were  no  sol- 
diers on  the  spot  to  punish  them  for  their  outrages,  and  they  fan- 
cied that  they  could  do  as  they  pleased  with  impunity.  It  is  a 
characteristic  of  the  Indian  to  be  insolent  and  overbearing  when 
he  has  no  apprehension  of  immediate  chastisement.  Prairie  du 
Chien,  the  scene  of  this  outbreak,  was,  at  the  time,  a  small  settle- 
ment in  the  heart  of  the  Indian  country,  at  the  junction  of  the 
Wisconsin  and  Mississippi  rivers.  The  Sacs,  Foxes,  Winneba- 
goes,  Menominees  and  Sioux,  all  lived  in  the  vicinity.  A  military 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASK.  97 

force  was  obviously  necessary  to  keep  the  Indians  quiet ;  yet  the 
policy  of  the  government  was  opposed  to  such  an  establishment. 
The  troops  were  removed  from  there  to  St.  Peter's,  further  up  the 
Mississippi.  The  inhabitants  of  the  whole  western  country  were 
indignant  at  such  indifference  to  their  safety,  and  repeatedly  me- 
morialized the  President  on  the  subject.  Particularly  in  Michigan 
was  this  course,  on  the  part  of  the  government,  deprecated.  De- 
troit and  Mackinac,  two  very  important  and  exposed  points,  were 
left  destitute  of  a  single  United  States  soldier.  This  condition  of 
the  defences  of  the  northwestern  frontier,  was  urged  with  force  and 
earnestness  upon  the  attention  of  Congress,  a  year  previous  to  the 
outrage  committed  at  Prairie  du  Chien.  In  a  memorial,  relating 
to  the  measures  necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  frontier,  Governor 
Cass  reviewed  the  whole  ground,  showing  how  indispensable  to  the 
maintenance  of  our  rights  and  the  protection  of  our  citizens,  was 
a  policy  of  systematized  and  thorough  defence,  by  the  construction 
of  military  roads,  and  the  erection  of  suitable  and  permanent  de- 
fences. At  this  time,  exclusive  of  the  Indians  on  Lake  Superior 
and  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  there  were,  within  the  ter- 
ritory of  Michigan,  more  than  twenty-eight  thousand  Indians,  over 
whom  the  officers  of  the  Indian  department  of  the  British  govern- 
ment exercised  an  influence  incompatible  with  the  honor  of  our 
government,  and  injurious  to  the' peaceful  interests  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Michigan.  Unfortunately,  neither  the  arguments  of  Gov. 
Cass,  nor  the  petitions  of  the  people,  could  divert  the  mind  of  the 
senior  Major  General  of  the  army,  from  his  favorite  plan  of  estab- 
lishing a  cordon  of  exterior  posts,  to  the  neglect  of  those  more  inte- 
rior. Detroit,  Mackinac,  Chicago  and  Prairie  du  Chien,  were  left 
without  any  military  force  whatever.  The  experience  of  the  sum- 
mer of  1827,  however,  induced  a  re-occupation  of  the  posts  of 
Chicago  and  Prairie  du  Chien. 

In  the  year  1827,  Gov.  Cass  procured  from  the  Indians  living  in 
St.  Joseph  county,  Michigan,  a  cession  of  their  lands  for  building 
a  military  road  from  Detroit  to  Chicago. 

Gov.  Cass  received,  as  has  been  stated,  his  first  appointment  as 
governor  of  the  Michigan  territory,  in  1813,  from  President  Mad- 
ison.    This  appointment  was  renewed  under  successive  Presi- 
dents, and  he  continued  to  hold  that  office  until  his  selection  by 
7 


98  LIFE    Of    GENERAL    CASS. 

Gen.  Jackson  to  fill  the  office  of  Secretary  of  War,  in  the  cabinet 
of  that  distinguished  man. 

His  civil  administration  of  the  government  of  the  territory,  from 
its  commencement  to  its  honorable  close,  is  marked  everywhere 
as  highly  beneficial  to  the  advancement  of  the  country,  and  the 
welfare  and  interests  of  the  inhabitants.  Great  derangement  in 
all  civil  matters  of  government,  was  the  natural  and  inevitable 
consequence  of  the  war,  increased  in  this  instance  by  the  tempo- 
rary occupation  of  the  enemy,  following  the  surrender.  Disorder 
prevailed  to  a  degree  which  would  have  appalled  a  man  of  less  en- 
ergy, and  driven  him  away  in  despair  of  establishing  peace,  order 
and  quiet. 

Gov.  Cass,  with  his  habitual  firmness  and  decision,  seized  at  once 
upon  those  points  of  organization  which  were  most  prominent  and 
needed  the  earliest  and  most  strenuous  attention.  Courts  were  es- 
tablished, civil  officers  appointed,  territorial  divisions  created  and 
established,  and  other  means  devised,  calculated  to  raise  the  terri- 
tory from  the  state  of  depression  and  neglect  into  which  it  had 
fallen.  As  the  increase  of  the  population  and  the  extension  of  the 
settlements  demanded,  he  established  new  counties.  A  system  of 
internal  improvement,  devoted  to  the  laying  out  and  constructing 
roads,  received  from  him  particular  attention  ;  the  establishment 
of  schools  and  religious  institutions,  independent  of  sectarian  views, 
•were  objects  which  held  the  first  place  in  his  careful  provision  for 
the  best  interests  of  the  territory.  Though  born  and  educated 
amid  the  stern  inculcations  and  immovable  Puritanism  of  the  Pil- 
grims, no  man  in  his  official  character  could  be  more  tolerant  or 
friendly  to  the  religious  rights  of  others,  or  more  active  in  foster- 
ing the  early  attempts  of  persons  of  any  religious  sect  to  promote 
the  moral  and  spiritual  welfare  of  the  people.  In  an  address  de- 
livered before  the  historical  society  of  Michigan,  Gov.  Cass  pays 
the  following  beautiful  and  justly  bestowed  tribute  to  the  self  de- 
nying spirit  and  religious  zeal  of  the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries. 
He  says:  "The  whole  history  of  human  character  furnishes  no 
more  illustrious  examples  of  self  devotion,  than  are  to  be  found  in 
the  records  of  the  establishment  of  the  Roman  Catholic  mission- 
aries, whose  faith  and  fervor  enabled  them  to  combat  the  difficul- 
ties around  them  in  life,  and  triumph  over  them  in  death." 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

For  a  period  of  eighteen  years  did  Gov.  Cass  devote  himself  to 
the  faithful  performance  of  his  administration  as  governor  of  the 
Michigan  territory,  amid  the  privations  and  hardships  of  a  frontier 
life.  During  the  first  stages  of  territorial  existence,  the  duties  in- 
cumbent upon  the  executive  are  more  numerous  and  onerous  than 
under  any  other  form  of  organization.  Not  only  is  he  the  execu- 
tive officer,  upon  whom  devolves  the  duty  to  see  to  the  faithful 
execution  of  the  laws,  but  he  is  the  principal  component  of  the 
legislative  department.  Under  the  ordinance  of  1787,  the  powers 
conferred  upon  the  executive  and  legislative  department  are  very 
extensive ;  so  much  so  as  almost  to  reach  a  point  repugnant  to  the 
spirit  of  our  constitution  and  free  institutions.  The  voice  and 
will  of  the  people,  which  in  our  government  is  justly  held  to  be 
the  source  of  power,  in  the  first  grade  of  territorial  government 
under  the  ordinance,  is  entirely  lost  sight  of,  and  their  rights  and 
privileges  subjected  to  the  will  and  caprice  of  rulers,  exercising 
authority  over  them,  by  appointment  from  the  general  government. 
Under  such  circumstances  it  might  happen,  that  the  people  of  the 
territory  would  find  a  tyrannical  and  exacting  ruler  placed  over 
them,  whose  oppressions,  though  bearing  upon  them  severely,  might 
not  be  an  infraction  of  the  letter  or  spirit  of  the  law.  In  a  thou- 
sand ways  might  such  a  ruler  prove  an  annoyance  and  an  inflic- 
tion, without  giving  cause  or  opportunity  for  his  removal.  Great 
latitude  is  left  by  the  law  which  prescribes  his  powers  and  duties ; 
and  innumerable  are  the  instances  where  he  might  prove  to  be  a 
scourge  and  injury  to  the  people.  Nor  would  it  be  at  all  wonder- 
ful, circumstanced  as  the  territory  then  was,  should  there  have 
been  an  occasional  instance  where  an  individual  might  deem  his 
rights  infringed,  or  his  liberty  as  a  citizen  of  a  republican  govern- 
ment limited  by  the  acts  of  a  territorial  governor,  however  wise  or 
humane,  'or  careful  of  acting  only  under  the  sanction  of  legal  au- 
thority clearly  expressed.  Yet,  during  the  whole  of  Gov.  Cass' 
administration,  there  is  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  single 
murmur  or  complaint  against  him.  No  exemption  from  liability 
to  err,  is  claimed  for  him  ;  nor  is  it  pretended  that  his  measures 
and  conduct  were  free  from  imperfection ;  but  it  is  stated  as  a 
proof  of  his  devoted  attention  to  the  wants  of  those  whom  he  was 
called  upon  to  govern,  his  readiness  to  listen  to  and  adopt  the  sug- 


100  LIFE    Or    GENERAL    CASS. 

gestions  of  the  wi?dom  and  experience  of  others.  It  is  hazarding 
but  little  to  assert,  that  there  is  not  in  the  history  of  our  own 
country,  at  least,  an  instance  of  governmental  policy  and  practice 
where  so  much  was  effected  and  so  little  objected  to;  where  there 
were  so  many  conflicting  causes  to  be  brought  into  harmony ;  so 
so  much  concession  to  be  obtained  ;  so  many  changes  in  daily  and 
habitual  customs  to  be  wrought,  as  in  that  period,  following  the 
close  of  the  war  of  1812,  in  the  territory  of  Michigan.  The  true 
secret  of  the  success  of  Gov.  Cass,  was  his  reverence  for  that  de- 
mocratic principle,  which  teaches  all  in  authority  under  our  insti- 
tutions and  la\ss,  to  regard  the  wishes  and  feelings  of  the  govern- 
ed. The  opinions  of  the  people  were  held  in  respect ;  and  basing 
his  administration  upon  the  adoption  of  the  simple,  but  well  estab- 
lished political  truth,  that,  from  the  people,  emanates  all  power  in 
a  republican  government,  he  conformed  his  practice  thereto,  and 
never  gave  an  arbitrary  or  overdrawn  construction  to  the  organic 
law  of  his  government,  whereby  his  own  powers  might  be  construc- 
tively increased,  while  the  rights  of  the  people  would  be  propor- 
tionally diminished. 

In  the  speech  of  Gov.  Cass,  delivered  June  7th,  1824,  to  the 
first  legislative  body  convened  in  the  territory  of  Michigan,  the 
inherent  right  of  the  people  to  the  control  of  public  officers,  is  thus 
spoken  of: — 

"The  legislative  power,  heretofore  exercised,  has  been  vested  in  offi- 
cers over  whom  the  people  had  no  direct  control.  Authority  thus  held,  is 
certainly  liable  to  abuse  ;  but  its  practical  operation  was  restrained  and 
secured  as  well  by  the  limitations  provided  in  the  fundamental  ordinance, 
as  by  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  and  the  superintending  control  of  the 
general  government.  Still  that  change  in  our  political  system,  which  gives 
to  the  people  the  right  of  electing  their  own  Legislature,  is  not  only  cor- 
rect in  principle,  but  will  be  found  most  salutary  in  its  operation. 

"  The  power  of  appointment  to  office  in  free  governments,  presents  for 
solution,  a  doubtful  and  delicate  question.  In  this  territorial  government, 
that  power  is  vested  in  the  Executive  alone.  I  feel  no  disposition  on  the 
one  hand,  to  shrink  from  any  necessary  responsibility,  nor  on  the  other, 
tenaciously  to  retain  any  power  originally  granted  for  the  public  good,  but 
which  the  public  interest  now  requires  should  be  surrendered.  The  ordi- 
nance of  Congress,  which  forms  the  basis  of  our  political  fabric,  was  pass- 
ed thirty-five  years  ngo.  It  was  a  political  experiment,  and  successive  al- 
terations have  been  made,  and  to  remedy  defects  which  experience  has 
shown  to  exist  and  to  accommodate  its  principles  to  the  advancing  opin- 
ions of  the  age.  My  own  observation  has  satisfied  roe,  that  a  beneficfttl 
change  may  be  made  in  the  mode  of  appointment  to  office.  All  township 
and  corporation,  and  many  county  officers,  and  particularly  those  whose 
duties  relate  to  the  fiscal  and  police  concerns  of  the  respective  counties, 


LIFE    'IF    GENERAL    CASS.  101 

.  •  % 

should  be  elected  by  the  people.  In  the  appointment  of  .other*,  it  appears 
to  me  proper  to  give  to  the  council  a.p&'.ma.ipdti&sl.  No^/stem  which  has 
been  adopted  in  the  United  States,  Up'on  tnis  subject,  is  better  calculated 
to  effect  the  object,  than  that  which'  re^ufreaXfibriwitipfrbyflrKExecutive 
magistrate,  and  the  concurrence' Qf-  tf  <if?jibcraiivti  boidyv  By  these  means 
we  have  the  advantage  of  individual  responsibility  in  the  nomination,  and 
also  a  check  upon  its  abuse,  in  the  required  concurrence  of  a  co-ordinate 
branch  of  the  government." 

On  the  subjects  of  schools  and  education,  Gov.  Cass,  in  the  same 
speech,  says: — 

"  The  importance  of  this  subject  to  our  present  and  future  prosperity, 
must  be  too  well  appreciated  to  require  any  observation  from  me.  A 
practical  and  well  digested  system,  which  should  extend  to  all  the  advanta- 
ges of  education,  would  be  of  inestimable  value  to  this  young  and  grow- 
ing community.  A  more  acceptable  service  could  not  be  rendered  to  our 
fellow  citizens;  and  no-more  equitable  tax  can  be  levied  in  a^y  country, 
than  one  whose  application  is  directed  to  preparing  its  citizens  for  appre- 
icating  and  preserving  the  blessings  of  self  government." 

In  relation  to  the  accountability  of  the  representative  to  his  con- 
stituents, the  Governor,  at  that  early  day  in  our  history,  expressed 
the  following  sentiments.  The  provision  introduced  in  the  lately 
adopted  constitution  of  the  state  of  Michigan,  in  regard  to  repre- 
sentative districts,  is  only  carrying  into  practice  the  principle  re- 
commended by  Gov.  Cass,  thirty  years  ago.  The  Governor  says: — 

"  It  is  always  desirable,  that  the  connection  between  the  representative 
and  constituent  should  be  as  intimate  as  practicable;  and  with  this  view, 
districts  are  usually  established,  within  which  it  may  fairly  be  presumed, 
the  electors  will  be  acquainted  with  the  characters  and  pretensions  of  those 
who  request  their  suffrages.  When  these  districts  are  extensive,  and  par- 
ticularly when  they  embrace  a  whole  state  or  territory,  the  immediate  ac- 
countability of  the  representative  to  those  among  whom  he  lives,  and  who 
know  him  best,  is  weakened.  I  believe  it  would  be  expedient  to  divide 
the  territory  into  districts,  and  assign  to  each  the  election  of  two  members 
of  the  council." 

The  proceedings  of  this,  the  first  legislative  assembly,  excited 
paramount  and  universal  interest  among  the  inhabitants.  The 
Governor's  message  was  looked  upon  as  the  guide  which  should 
direct  their  proceedings,  and  to  it  the  attention  of  the  community 
was  directed.  So  intimately  connected  with  the  public  life  of  Gov. 
Cass,  is  the  condition,  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  territory,  that 
a  full  account  of  the  one  cannot  be  given  without  connecting  it 
more  or  less  with  the  other.  By  setting  forth  the  principal  topics 
discussed  in  the  Governor's  message,  the  reader  will  at  the  same 
time  obtain  the  most  accurate  information  of  the  state  of  the 
country,  and  a  convincing  proof  of  the  thorough  knowledge  pos-  ' 


102  LIFE    OF    UKNEKAL    CASS. 

sessed  by  its; -chief  magistrate  of  its  condition,  wants,  and  capaci- 
ties. The  objects  reComirficrtd-ed'  by  the  Governor  as  requiring 
legislative  actirfu,  -were;— the  establishment  of  a  system  of  town- 
ship government,  in  which  matters  of  local  police  might  be  regu- 
lated by  the  people  in  their  primary  meetings;  the  power  of  ap- 
pointment and  removal  of  territorial  officers ;  a  limitation  to  the 
tenure  of  some  of  the  offices,  in  order  that  a  more  faithful  per- 
formance of  the  duties  belonging  to  them  might  be  secured  ;  the 
necessity  of  providing  competent  means  for  examining  and  redress- 
ing complaints  against  public  officers ;  the  necessity  of  enacting 
laws  whereby  fugitives  from  justice  should  be  delivered  up ;  the 
organization  of  courts,  which  should  make  the  dispensation  of  jus- 
tice convenient  and  attainable  in  remote  parts  of  the  territory ;  the 
advantages  to  be  derived  from  an  efficient  organization  of  the  ter- 
ritorial militia ;  the  benefits  which  would  result  mutually  to  the 
constituent  and  the  representative,  by  a  division  of  the  territory 
into  districts ;  the  importance  of  a  practical  and  well  digested  sys- 
tem of  schools  and  education  ;  the  situation  of  the  roads;  changes 
in  the  territorial  code  of  laws ;  and  the  finances  of  the  territory. 
These  prominent  subjects,  fraught  with  the  destiny  of  the  territo- 
ry, were  discussed  in  the  message  in  a  manner  commensurate  with 
their  bearing  upon  the  welfare  of  the  people.  The  legislative 
council  were  governed  in  their  deliberations  by  the  recommenda- 
tions of  the  message,  and  the  suggestions  of  the  executive  were 
responded  to  by  enactments. 

In  1824,  Gov.  Cass  recommended  to  the  general  government 
that  steps  should  be  taken  to  obtain  from  the  Indians  of  Lake  Su- 
perior, the  right  to  explore  that  country  for  mining  purposes,  and 
to  remove  such  ore  or  precious  metals  as  might  be  found  there. 
There  were  objections  then  existing  to  an  absolute  purchase  of 
the  country  from  the  Indians,  while  all  the  advantages  to  be  de- 
rived, would  be  quite  as  well  attained  by  gaining  the  consent  of 
the  Indians  to  prosecute  mining  operations,  without  a  cession  of 
their  title.  The  region,  which  has  now  become  celebrated  for  its 
metalliferous  fruitfulness,  and  which  is  daily  becoming  settled  by 
enterprising  and  laborious  inhabitants,  was  known  as  early  as  in 
the  year  1824,  to  abound  in  rich  mines  of  copper  and  iron.  Re- 
•  cent  explorations  and  successful  results  of  mining  for  the  last 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  103 

four  years,  substantiate  the  accuracy  of  the  conclusions  drawn  by 
Governor  Cass  in  1824,  as  to  the  anticipated  value  of  the  Lake 
Superior  country.  Writing  on  this  subject,  in  November  of  that 
year,  to  Col.  Benton,  of  the  United  States  Senate,  Governor  Cass 
remarks : — 

''The  metalliferous  region  is  upon  and  about  the  lake  &hore,  and  the 
extinction  of  the  Indian  title  to  such  a  portion  of  it  as  may  be  deemed 
advantageous,  would  not  diminish  their  means  of  subsistence.  But  I  still 
think,  as  I  thought  originally,  that  it  would  be  most  proper  to  negotiate 
with  them  for  the  right  to  explore  the  country,  and  carry  on  mining  ope- 
rations, wherever  appearances  may  promise  the  most  productive  result. 
All  the  advantages  we  could  expect  to  derive  from  the  mineral  riches  of 
the  country,  would  be  gained  by  the  right  to  procure  and  take  away  any 
portion  of  them. 

"No  calculation  can  be  made  of  the  extent  and  pecuniary  value  of 
these  copper  mines.  No  doubt  is  entertained  but  that  the  metal  may  be 
procured  with  as  much  ease  as  in  any  part  of  the  world.  In  fact,  it  is 
well  known,  that  large  masses  of  pure  malleable  copper  have  been  dis- 
covered in  diiferent  parts  of  the  country ;  and  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe,  that,  when  those  regions  are  fully  explored,  these  masses  will  be 
found  to  be  still  more  abundant. 

"The  cost  of  making  the  purchase  I  have  described,  may  be  kept  with- 
in the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  full  justice  be  done  to  the  Indiana 
interested.  It  might,  I  doubt  not,  be  made  for  a  much  less  sum,  were  it 
consonant  to  the  principles  or  policy  of  the  Government  to  procure  ces- 
sions from  the  Indians  at  the  lowest  possible  rate.  '  But  it  is  due  to  the 
character  of  our  country,  and  to  the  feelings  of  our  citizens,  that,  in  our 
negotiations  with  these  wretched  people,  we  should  remember  our  own 
strength  and  wealth,  and  their  weakness  and  poverty.  That  we  should 
look  back  upon  whut  they  have  lost,  and  we  have  gained,  and  never  for- 
get the  great  moral  debt  we  owe  them/' 

In  pursuance  of  the  suggestion  of  Gov.  Cass,  a  bill  passed  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  at  its  succeeding  session,  authorizing 
the  President  of  the  United  States  to  appoint  a  commissioner  to 
treat  with  the  Indians,  for  permission  to  search  for  copper  on  the 
south  shore  of  Lake  Superior.  The  bill,  unfortunately,  was  lost 
in  the  House  of  Representatives.  A  year  or  two  afterwards,  the 
necessity  for  such  an  arrangement  became  so  obvious,  that  Con- 
gress could  no  longer  withhold  its  assent.  In  the  treaty  made 
with  the  Chippewas  in  August,  1826,  right  was  granted  to  the  Uni- 
ted States  to  search  for  and  carry  away  any  metals  or  minerals 
from  any  part  of  their  country. 

In  August,  1818,  John  C.  Calhoun,  then  Secretary  of  War, 
called  the  attention  of  Gov  Cass  to  the  policy  of- removing  the 
Six  Nation  of  Indians,  of  the  State  of  New  York,  to  west  of  the 
Mississippi.  He  was  instructed,  that  when  he  should  meet  them 


104  LIFE    OF    GENEKAL 

in  council,  he  should  ascertain  whether  the  Indians,  residing  on 
Fox  river,  or  any  of  the  tribes  residing  north  of  Indiana  and  Illi- 
nois, would  admit  the  Six  Nations  among  them.  This  measure  of 
the  government  was  then  in  its  infancy,  and  was  of  such  a  peculiar 
nature  that  it  required  the  most  delicate  and  politic  management. 
The  Indians  themselves  received  the  proposition  with  disapproba- 
tion, if  not  absolute  determination  to  resist.  To  urge  it  upon  them 
then,  would  have  defeated  a  most  necessary  step,  towards  securing 
peace  and  safety  to  the  early  settlers  upon  the  newly  acquired  ter- 
ritory. Gov.  Cass  was  of  opinion  that  the  lime  had  not  yet  arri- 
ved for  them  voluntarily  to  abandon  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and 
seek  a  new  home  among  tribes  with  whom  they  were  unacquaint- 
ed, and  who  might  prove  hostile  to  them. 

Though  favorable  to  the  project,  to  the  end  sought  by  the  gov- 
ernment, he  was  opposed  to  its  forcible  adoption,  and  recommend- 
ed that  time  should  be  allowed  to  prepare  their  minds  for  the  ac- 
ceptance of  a  proposition,  which,  to  them,  as  a  people,  was  of  such 
vast  import,  and  involving  their  national  existence.  He  argued 
that  as  the  settlements  of  the  whites  grew  up  around  them,  when 
their  hunting  grounds  became  changed  into  gardens  and  grainer- 
ies — when  the  game  they  lived  upon  should  retire  before  the  ap- 
proach of  the  white  man  into  the  farther  west — they,  too,  would 
feel  the  influences  of  increasing  civilization,  and  adopt,  as  a  neces- 
sity of  existence,  the  proposition  of  the  government.  He  was  in 
favor  of  acting  upon  principles  of  strict  right  and  justice,  accom- 
plishing all  things  by  friendly  and  fair  negotiation,  and  strict  adhe- 
rence to  treaty  stipulations.  Throughout  his  transactions,  a  sense 
of  what  was  due  to  the  honor  of  his  country  and  the  condition  of 
the  unfortunate  parties  with  whom  he  negotiated,  was  carefully 
kept  in  view.  In  his  report  of  the  treaty  with  the  Chippewa  Indians, 
dated  September  30th,  1818,  the  Gov.  remarks — "the  negotiator  of 
an  Indian  treaty  is  not  sent  upon  such  a  negotiation  to  ascertain  the 
lowest  possible  sum  for  which  the  miserable  remnant  of  those  who 
once  occupied  our  country,  are  willing  to  treat,  and  to  seize  with 
avidity  the  occasion  to  purchase.  Certain  I  am,  that  both  you  (Sec. 
of  War)  and  the  President  would  censure  me,  and  justly  too,  were 
I  governed  in  my  intercourse  with  the  Indians  by  such  principles. 
The  great  moral  debt  which  we  owe  them,  can  only  be  discharged 


LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS.  105 

by  patient  fotbearance,  and  by  a  rigid  adherence  to  that  system  of 
improvement,  which  we  have  adopted,  and  the  effects  of  which  are 
already  felt  in  this  quarter."  In  reply  to  that  part  of  the  Secretary's 
instructions  concerning  the  removal  of  the  Indians,  Go^.Cass  says  : 

"Although  I  am  thoroughly  persuaded  that  it  would  be  better  for  us, 
and  for  these  Indians,  that  they  should  emigrate  to  the  country  West  of 
the  Mississippi,  or  at  any  rate,  West  of  Lake  Michigan,  yet  it  was  impos- 
sible to  give  effect  to  that  part  of  the  instructions  which  relates  to  this  Sub- 
ject, without  hazarding  the  success  ot  the  negotiation.  An  indisposition  to 
abandon  the  country,  so  long  occupied  by  their  tribes ;  an  hereditary  en- 
mity to  many  of  the  Western  Indians,  and  a  suspicion  of  our  motives,  are 
the  prominent  causes  which,  for  the  present  defeat  this  plan.  When  they 
are  surrounded  by  our  settlements,  and  brought  in  contact  with  our  peo- 
ple, they  will  be  more  disposed  to  emigrate." 

On  a  subsequent  occasion,  the  same  just  and  humane  views 
were  advocated  by  him.  In  fact  his  intercourse  with  these  people 
was  always  of  a  character  to  command  their  respect  and  ensure 
their  confidence  and  friendship  for  him  personally. 

A  striking  instance  of  this  occurred  at  the  treaty  of  the  Chip- 
pewas  in  September,  1819,  where  six  millions  of  acres  bordering 
on  the  Saginaw  river  and  tributaries,  were  acquired.  After  the 
treaty,  when  the  Governor  had  left,  the  Indians  deputed  their  chief 
and  orator,  Washmenondeguet,  to  overtake  him  and  express  to  him 
their  entire  satisfaction  with  the  arrangement,  and  their  thankful- 
ness for  the  kindness  and  attention  shown  to  them. 

One  source  of  great  annoyance  and  damage  to  the  people  of 
Michigan,  was  the  annual  assemblage  of  Indians  at  Maiden,  the 
British  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Detroit  river,  and  at  Drummond's 
Island  in  the  northern  peninsula,  to  receive  gifts  and  presents  from 
the  British  Government.  These  two  points  were  the  principal 
stations  of  the  Indian  department  of  the  British  Government,  to 
which  the  savages  resorted  annually  by  thousands.  They  had 
been  accustomed  to  visit  those  places  yearly,  long  previous  to  the 
war  of  1812,  and  after  its  close  continued  to  do  so  for  several 
years.  In  the  month  of  July,  generally,  they  thronged  into  the 
town  of  Maiden,  to  receive  their  share  of  the  spoils  to  be  distribu- 
ted. They  came  from  long  distances — the  Chippewa  from  Sagi. 
naw — the  Pottawatomie  from  Lake  Michigan — the  Fox  and  Sac 
from  the  Mississippi,  all  met  there  to  receive  the  bounty  of  their 
"Great  Father,"  who  lived  over  the  "big  water."  Presents,  amount- 
ing in  value  to  several  thousand  dollars,  were  bestowed  upon 


106  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

them.  In  passing  through  the  settlements  of  the  interior,  these 
Indians,  instigated  by  malice  and  dislike  towards  our  people,  com- 
mitted depredations  upon  their  property,  robbing  and  plundering 
whenever  they  could  lay  their  hands  on  anything  portable.  Nor 
was  this  the  extent  of  the  evil  arising  from  this  custom.  A  feel- 
ing of  attachment  for  those  who  bestowed  upon  them  valuable  and 
costly  gifts,  was  the  natural  consequence  of  this  system  of  subsidy, 
the  effect  of  which  could  not  be  otherwise  than  injurious  to  the 
United  States.  Even  in  time  of  peace  the  evils  were  sensibly  felt, 
and  in  the  event  of  war,  apprehensions  of  still  worse  consequen- 
ces were  entertained  by  those  conversant  with  Indian  characteris- 
tics. Governor  Cass  witnessed  and  dreaded  the  influence  which 
this  practice,  which  commenced  in  l?9t>,  exerted  upon  the  minds 
of  Indians,  with  whom  he  was  so  often  brought  in  contact.  Sev- 
eral attempts  were  made  by  him  to  dissuade  them  from  visiting 
Maiden,  but  without  success.  They  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
forego  the  benefits  accruing  to  them  from  the  liberality  of  a  for- 
eign power.  The  attention  of  the  government  was  directed  to 
this  important  matter,  but  it  appears  to  have  been  suffered  to  pass 
unattended  toj;  and  what  seems  most  singular,  is  that  the  English 
government  should  have  been  permitted  to  retain  possession  of 
Drummond's  Island,  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  the  Indians  there, 
as  late  as  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1825,  its  location  within  the 
bounds  and  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  having  been  long 
previously  settled  by  the  treaty  of  peace. 

These  visits  were  not  without  their  inconveniences  to  the  peo- 
ple who  encouraged  them.  To  the  citizens  of  Maiden  the  Indi- 
ans were  almost  an  intolerable  nuisance.  They  encamped  in  and 
around  the  town  ;  amused  themselves  with  their  customary  sports 
and  games,  and  being  generally  intoxicated,  were  exceedingly 
troublesome.  The  greater  portion  of  them  were  filthy  in  appear- 
ance, and  their  rags  bore  evidence  of  their  slothful  and  indolent 
manner  of  life.  Their  dress  consisted  usually  of  a  cotton  or  cali- 
co shirt,  leggins  and  blanket ;  their  feet  were  protected  by  moc- 
casins. The  Sacs  were  an  exception  as  to  the  shirt.  That,  they 
considered  as  exclusively  an  article  of  female  apparel,  and  there- 
fore would  not  wear  any  ;  they,  however,  wore  leggins,  and  cov- 
ered themselves  with  a  blanket.  Their  heads  were  shaved  close 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  107 

to  the  scalp,  except  a  narrow  strip  commencing  forward  of  the 
top  and  extending  down  the  back  of  the  head.  This  strip  of  hair 
was  allowed  to  grow  six  inches  in  length,  was  made  to  stand  erect, 
painted  red  and  ornamented  with  feathers. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Message  to  the  Legislative  Council  of  1326 — Boundary  line  between  Michigan 
and  Ohio — Constitutional  Convention — Ad  ion  of  Congress  in  defining  bounda- 
ry as  a  condition  of  admission  of  Michigan  into  the  Union — Action  of  the  two 
Conventions — Final  admission —Democratic  tone  ofGov.  Cass' messages. 

AT  the  annual  session  of  the  Legislative  Council  in  1826,  Gov. 
Cass,  in  his  message,  directed  the  attention  of  the  Council  to  the 
leading  subjects  requiring  their  consideration.  Notwithstanding 
his  duties,  as  Superintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  occupied  the  great- 
er portion  of  his  time  and  attention  during  the  year,  and  required 
his  personal  attendance  at  different  places  many  miles  distant  from 
the  capital  of  the  territory,  the  wants  and  requirements  of  his  civil 
jurisdiction  were  not  neglected  or  overlooked.  •  Among  the  princi- 
pal topics  of  the  message,  was  the  boundary  line  separating  the 
territory  from  the  jurisdiction  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois.  In 
defining  the  geographical  limits  of  Ohio,  due  regard  to  the  rights 
of  Michigan  appears  to  have  escaped  attention. 
•  The  southern  boundary  of  the  territory  of  Michigan,  as  run  by 
authority  of  the  United  States,  was  a  line  running  due  east  from 
the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Michigan  to  Lake  Erie.  The  legis- 
lature of  Ohio  .contended  that  this  line  was  declared  to  be  the 
northern  boundary  of  Ohio,  by  Congress  in  1802,  and  was  accep- 
ted by  the  people  of  Ohio,  then  about  to  become  a  State,  with  this 
provision,  however,  that  if  the  southerly  bend  or  extreme  of  Lake 
Michigan,  should  extend  so  far  south,  that  a  line  drawn  due  east 
•  from  it  should  not  intersect  Lake  Erie,  or  if  it  should  intersect  Lake 
Erie  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Miami  river,  then  in  that  case,  with 
the  assent  of  Congress,  the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  should 
be  established  by,  and  extend  to  a  direct  line  running  from  the 
southern  extremity  of  Lake  Michigan,  to  the  most  northerly  cape  of 
Miami  Bay,  after  intersecting  the  due  north  line  from  the  mouth  of 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  109 

the  Great  Miami,  as  aforesaid;    thence  northeast  to  the  territoral 
line,  and  by  said  line  to  the  Pennsylvania  line. 

Upon  this  subject  of  so  great  interest  to  the  people  of  the  terri- 
tory, the  Governor  expressed  his  views  clearly  and  unmistakably. 
Familiar  with  every  public  act,  relating  to  the  territory,  to  its  most 
minute  detail,  there  was  no  one  who  so  well  understood  its  rightful 
claims.  Although  the  question  is  now  settled,  it  may  be  interest- 
ing to  know  what  was  the  opinion,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
controversy,  of  one  who  was  conversant  with  every  page  and  line 
of  Congressional  enactments  affecting  the  organization  of  Michi- 
gan. The  following  extract  from  the  Governor's  message  to  the 
Legislative  Council,  delivered  in  November,  1826,  will  shew  in 
what  light  he  viewed  the  encroachments  made  under  apparent  sanc- 
tion of  law,  upon  the  lawful  possessions  of  Michigan : — 

"  The  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  has  contended  that  the  north- 
ern boundary  of  that  State,  is  a  line  run  directly  from  the  southern  ex- 
treme of  Lake  Michigan  to  the  north  cape  of  Miami  Bay.  '  The  line  ac- 
tually run  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  and  in  conformity  with 
the  various  acts  of  Congress  upon  the  subject,  commences  at  the  southern 
extreme  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  proceeds  due  east  to  Lake  Erie.  The 
country  north  of  that  line,  and  bounding  upon  Ohio,  is  subject  to  our  ju- 
risdiction, and  that  jurisdiction  can  only  be  changed  by  the  authority  of 
the  General  Government.  A  resolution  was  introduced  into  Congress  at 
the  last  session,  but  not  acted  on,  to  provide  for  a  cession  to  Ohio  of  the 
country  claimed  by  her.  Although  I  consider  the  right  of  this  territory 
too  clear  to  be  shaken,  and  that  our  interests  are  safe  where  alone  they 
can  be  affected,  still  the  expression  of  your  sentiments  upon  the  subject, 
would  be  useful  in  the  discussion  it  may  produce,  and  I  suggest  the  expe- 
diency of  your  interference. 

"  With  Indiana,  also,  our  boundary  is  unsettled.  The  ordinance  of  Con- 
gress of  July  13th,  1787,  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  governments  north 
of  the  Ohio,  provided  that  a  line  to  be  run  due  east  and  west  from  the 
southern  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan  to  Lake  Erie  and  the  Mississippi  re- 
spectively, should  be  the  boundary  between  the  States  upon  the  Ohio,  and 
those  north  of  them,  if  Congress  should  find  it  expedient  to  establish  more 
than  three  States.  The  power  thus  vested,  has  been  exercised  by  the  ad- 
mission already  of  three  States  into  the  Union,  and  by  the  existing  pro- 
vision for  the  admission  of  at  least  one  more.  The  original  arrangement 
of  this  matter,  is  in  that  part  of  the  ordinance  which  is  declared  to  be  a 
compact,  and  unalterable  but  by  mutual  consent. 

"  Virginia,  by  her  act  of  cession,  was  a  party  to  the  arrangement ;  and 
her  consent,  as  well  as  that  of  the  States  and  Territories  to  be  affected,  is 
essential  to  the  validity  of  any  change  in  this  instrument.  The  boundary 
of  Indiana  has  been  extended  ten  miles  north  of  this  line,  and  as  the  con- 
sent of  the  proper  parties  has  never  been  given  to  this  measure,  we  have  a 
right  to  expect  that  ourjust  claims  will  yet  be  regarded. 

"  In  like  manner,  the  boundary  of  Illinois  has  been  extended  to  the  par- 
allel of  forty-two  degrees  thirty  minutes,  probably  forty  miles  north  of  the 
line  established  by  the  ordinance.  How  the  claims  of  this  territory  to  the 


110  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

country  that  severed  from  it,  can  be  best  enforced,  and  what  time  it  may  be 
expedient  to  urge  them,  I  leave  for  you  to  determine. 

"But  there  is  a  question  connected  with  the  existing  jurisdiction  of  Illi- 
nois, which  the  interests  of  an  important  section  of  country  demand  should 
be  settled  without  delay.  The  parallel  of  forty-two  degrees  thirty  min- 
utes, probably  intersects  the  Mississippi  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Riviere  aux 
Fievre.  Upon  that  stream,  as  is  well  known,  there  are  various  lead  mines, 
to  which  the  Indian  title  has  been  extinguished,  and  which  are  now  profit- 
ably and  extensively  worked.  A  considerable  population  is  now  engaged 
in  this  business,  much  of  which,  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt,  is  in  the 
county  of  Crawford.  Illinois  has  recently  extended  her  jurisdiction  over 
this  settlement,  and  difficulties  have  already  occurred  in  the  execution  of 
process,  which  threaten  serious  consequences.  It  is  desirable  that  provi- 
sion should  be  made  by  Congress,  for  running  the  temporary  line,  if  the 
boundary  cannot  be  definitively  settled  ;  and  it  would  doubtless  promote 
the  accomplishment  of  this  measure,  should  you  express  your  views  on  that 
subject  in  a  memorial  to  that  body." 

In  establishing  the  boundaries  of  these  several  States,  the  terri- 
torial rights  of  Michigan  were  clearly  and  undeniably  infringed, 
and  large  tracts  of  fertile  country  disconnected  from  her  jurisdic- 
tion. These  violations  subsequently  became  subjects  of  serious 
controversy,  particularly  between  Michigan  and  Ohio.  When 
Michigan  sought  admission  into  the  Union,  as  a  State,  Congress 
interposed  and  definitely  fixed  the  boundary  line  between  the  two 
States,  by  making  it  a  condition  of  admission  that  Michigan  should 
accede  to  the  boundaries  between  the  States,  as  set  forth  in  act 
of  admission.  This  act  established  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
State  of  Ohio,  as  follows :  "  The  northern  boundary  line  of  the 
State  of  Ohio  shall  be  established  at,  and  shall  be  a  direct  line 
drawn  from  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Michigan  to  the  most 
northerly  cape  of  the  Maumee  (Miami)  Bay,  after  that  line,  so 
drawn,  shall  intersect  the  eastern  boundary  line  of  the  State  of  In- 
diana, and  from  the  said  north  cape  of  the  said  bay,  northeast  to 
the  boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and  the  province  of 
Upper  Canada,  in  Lake  Erie  ;  and  thence,  with  the  said  last  men- 
tioned line,  to  its  intersection  with  the  western  line  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania." 

A  convention  of  delegates  from  the  people  was  chosen  to  meet 
at  the  village  of  Ann  Arbor,  on  the  20th  of  September,  1836,  to 
accept  or  reject  the  terms  of  admission  proposed  by  Congress. 
After  a  session  of  three  days,  the  convention,  consisting  of  forty- 
nine  members  in  attendance,  decided,  by  a  majority  of  seven,  not 
to  accept  the  terms  of  admission.  Three  delegates  were  appointed 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  Ill 

by  the  convention,  to  attend  the  following  session  of  Congress,  in 
behalf  of  Michigan,  to  procure  an  unconditional  admission  into 
the  Union,  or,  if  that  were  not  possible,  one  more  just  in  its  pro- 
visions and  more  regardful  of  the  well  established  rights  of  the 
territory. 

The  action  of  this  convention  was  not  sustained  by  the  people 
generally,  and  means  were  at  once  adopted  to  call  another.  Ac- 
cordingly, another  convention  assembled  at  the  same  place,  in  De- 
cember of  the  same  year,  and,  after  one  day's  session,  on  the  15th 
of  that  month,  unanimously  resolved  to  assent  to  the  requirement 
of  the  act  of  Congress,  at  the  same  time  declaring  it  to  be  the 
opinion  of  the  convention, — 

"That  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  had  no  constitutional 
right  to  require  the  assent  aforesaid,  as  a  condition  preliminary  to 
the  admission  of  the  State  into  the  Union. 

"  Nevertheless,  as  the  Congress  have  required  such  assent  to  the 
condition,  and  as  the  interest  and  prosperity  of  the  State  will  be 
greatly  advanced  by  our  immediate  admission  into  the  Union,  as 
one  of  its  sovereign  States  ;  and  the  people  of  the  said  State,  are 
solicitous  to  give  to  her  sister  States,  and  to  the  world,  unequivo- 
cal proof  of  her  desire  to  promote  the  tranquility  and  harmony  of 
the  confederacy,  and  to  perpetuate  the  unity,  liberty,  and  prosperi- 
ty of  the  country ; 

"  Therefore,  be  it  rcsohed,  by  the  people  of  Michigan  in  conven- 
tion assembled,  that  the  assent  required  in  the  foregoing  recited 
act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  is  hereby  given." 

When  the  proceedings  of  this  latter  convention  were  submitted 
to  Congress,  the  validity  of  the  convention  was  questioned,  inas- 
much as  it  was  not,  as  the  prior  one  had  been,  authorized  by  any 
legislative  act,  but  was  called  by  parties  friendly  to  immediate  ad- 
mission, and  being  only  an  expression  of  a  portion  of  the  people 
of  Michigan,  -not  binding  upon  those  who  had  refused  to  partici- 
pate. The  character  of  the  proceedings  prevented  many  members 
•  from  voting  in  favor  of  the  final  act  of  admission ;  but,  after  much 
discussion,  the  act  "to  admit  the  State  of  Michigan  into  the  Union 
upon  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States,"  was  passed  and 
became  a  law  on  the  26th  day  of  January,  in  the  year  1837., 

The  thoroughly  democratic  tone  of  the  Governor's  messages, 


112  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CA8S. 

especially  in  reference  to  the  accountability  of  public  officers  to 
the  people,  received  from  all  parties  the  highest  commendation. 
He  assumed  the  position,  that  the  purity  of  Government,  the  in- 
corruptibility of  officers,  was  in  proportion  as  they  were  closely  or 
remotely  connected  with  the  true  sovereigns  of  the  country — the 
source  of  all  power — the  people.  He  says  in  his  message  of  No- 
vember 2d,  1826  :  "  I  have  heretofore  submitted  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, my  views  in  relation  to  the  establishment  of  a  system  of 
township  government ;  but  I  deem  the  subject  so  important,  that  I 
must  again  recommend  it  to  your  attention.  These  institution5 
have  elsewhere  produced  the  most  beneficial  effects  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  community,  and  upon  the  general  course  of  public 
measures.  They  embrace  within  their  scope,  those  questions  of 
local  police,  which  are  interesting  to  every  citizen,  and  which  ev- 
ery citizen  is  competent  to  discuss  and  determine.  In  the  more 
extensive  concerns  of  a  county,  the  necessary  regulations  for  these 
subordinate  matters  cannot  be  adopted  and  enforced.  Besides,  in 
proportion  as  all  governments  recede  from  the  people,  they  become 
liable  to  abuse.  Whatever  authority  can  be  conveniently  exercised 
in  primary  assemblies,  may  be  deposited  there  with  safety.  They 
furnish  practical  schools  for  the  consideration  of  political  subjects; 
and  no  one  can  revert  to  the  early  history  of  our  revolutionary 
struggle,  without  being  sensible,  that  to  their  operation  we  are  in- 
debted for  much  of  the  energy,  unanimity,  and  intelligence  which 
were  displayed  by  our  government,  and  people,  at  that  momentous 
crisis.' ; 

In  a  special  message,  transmitted  by  Governor  Cass,  to  the  Le- 
gislative Council,  November  22d,  1826,  he  expresses  the  follow- 
ing sentiments  on  the  same  subject  :  "  The  act  of  Congress,  chang- 
ing the  mode  of  appointments  to  office,  in  this  territory,  by  requi- 
ring that  nominations  should  be  made  by  the  Governor  to  the 
Council,  and  the  act  of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  limiting  the 
tenure  of  certain  offices,  have  made  important  changes  in  this 
branch  of  our  local  government. 

"  It  appears  to  me  proper,  on  the  first  occasion  of  a  general  ap- 
pointment to  office,  that  I  should  submit  to  you,  principles  by  which 
I  shall  be  guided,  in  the  discharge  of  that  portion  of  the  duty  which 
is  entrusted  to  me. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  .113 

"  It  is  necessary  that  all  persons,  bearing  office,  should  possess 
the  proper  qualifications  and  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the  commu- 
nity. Whenever  either  of  these  requisites  is  wanting,  the  office 
will  be  executed  with  diminished  usefulness.  It  is  not  possible, 
that  the  comparative  claims  of  all  who  are  proposed,  or  who  are 
applicants,  can  be  known  to  the  nominating  power.  He  must 
proceed  upon  such  information  as  may  be  given  to  him.  The  au- 
thority is  vested  in  him,  not  for  his  own  sake,  but  for  that  of  the 
community.  I  have  always  considered  myself,  in  the  execution  of 
this  duty,  a  trustee  for  the  public,  called  upon  to  perform  a  speci. 
fie  act,  in  which  they  alone  were  interested.  There  are  circum- 
stances, connected  with  the  nature  and  duties  of  certain  offices, 
and  with  the  exercise  of  public  suffrage,  which  render  it  inexpe- 
dient, that  all  appointments  should  be  filled  by  popular  elections. 
Where,  however,  this  authority  can  be  deposited  with  most  safety, 
is  a  political  problem,  respecting  which  much  difference  of  senti- 
ment has  prevailed  in  the  United  States.  Latterly,  the  opinion 
has  gained  ground  that  the  constitution  of  the  general  govern- 
ment furnishes  the  best  model  for  imitation,  and  that  the  right  of 
nomination,  vested  in  a  single  individual,  and  the  right  of  con- 
firmation or  rejection,  vested  in  a  representative  body,  afforded  the 
greatest  security  which  can  be  devised  for  the  prudent  exercise  of 
this  power.  An  elective  body  is  too  often  without  responsibility, 
and  a  single  individual  without  control.  By  uniting  the  advanta- 
ges of  both,  we  provide,  as  far  as  human  institutions  can  do, 
against  the  abuse  of  this  delegated  authority. 

"  An  expression  of  the  public  opinion  ought  to  have  great  weight 
in  all  nominations  to  office.  Where  it  is  unanimous  or  uncontra- 
dicted,  it  should  be  conclusive.  In  county  offices,  newly  created 
or  occasionally  vacated,  where  the  citizens  assemble  upon  proper 
notice,  and  without  any  concealment,  and  by  the  form  of  an  elec- 
tion, recommend  a  person  to  office,  I  can  conceive  few  reasons 
which  would  justify  the  neglect  of  such  an  application.  The  pro- 
cess appears  to  me  as  little  liable  to  objection  as  any  other  by 
which  the  qualifications  of  candidates  can  be  ascertained.  But 
the  practical  difficulty  is,  that  there  is  frequently  such  a  contrari- 
ety of  sentiment,  that  no  general  opinion  can  be  collected.  Coun- 
ter meetings  are  held,  and  remonstrances  transmitted,  and  different 


114  LIFE   OF   GENERAL   CASS. 

names  are  presented  to  the  Executive  for  each  office,  supported 
by  the  recommendation  of  respectable  citizens.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances, there  is  but  a  choice  of  difficulties,  and  a  selection 
must  be  made,  as  the  facts  in  each  case  may  seem  to  require.  I 
sincerely  trust,  when  any  of  our  fellow  citizens  find  the  person 
recommended  by  them  has  not  received  the  office  applied  for,  that 
they  will  attribute  the  result  to  the  duty  of  examining  the  whole 
ground,  and  of  attending  to  all  the  representations  which  may  be 
made,  and  not  to  the  slightest  disregard  of  their  wishes  or  opin- 
ions. It  is  a  task  which,  however  it  may  be  executed  with  deli- 
cacy, must  yet  be  executed  with  firmness." 

On  another  occasion,  the  Governor  sent  the  following  special 
message  to  the  Council : — 

"  At  the  late  session  of  Congress,  an  act  wae  passed,  extending  to  the 
citizens  of  Florida  and  Arkansas  the  privilege  of  choosing  almost  all  their 
officers  holding  their  offices  under  territorial  laws ;  and  authorizing  the 
local  legislature  to  appoint  the  few  not  eligible  by  the  people.  I  see  no 
reason  why  the  principles  of  this  act,  should  not  be  extended  to  this  terri- 
tory, and  I  submit  for  your  consideration  the  expediency  of  an  application 
to*  Congress  for  that  purpose.  It  will  be  found  that  appointments  to  office 
thus  made,  will  be  more  satisfactory  than  when  they  are  made  upon  the 
nomination  of  a  single  individual.  The  people  in  their  respective  coun- 
ties are  better  acquainted  with  the  qualifications  of  candidates  for  county 
offices,  than  an  Executive  magistrate  can  be,  and  more  competent  to  de- 
termine upon  them.  This  measure  would  give  to  the  people  a  direct  and 
proper  influence  in  the  management  of  their  affairs— an  influence  which 
at  all  times  ought  to  be  exerted  in  a  republican  government,  and  which 
will  be  more  fully  exerted  in  that  change  in  our  political  condition  to  which 
we  are  rapidly  approaching." 

The  following  opinions  of  Governor  Cass,  on  ill-advised  and  fre- 
quent legislation,  altering,  amending,  and  repealing  laws  only  par- 
tially tested,  will  be  admitted  by  every  one  to  be  sound  and  judi- 
cious, and  abundantly  supported  by  the  experience  of  the  last  thir- 
ty years.  He  says  : — 

"Our  code  of  laws  must  accommodate  itself  to  the  progress  of  our  insti- 
tutions, and  to  the  more  important  changes  in  public  opinion.  A  little  ob- 
servation and  reflection,  however,  will  satisfy  UB  that  in  the  United  States, 
generally,  legislative  experiments  have  been  made  too  frequently,  and  with 
too  much  facility.  Laws  are  no  sooner  known,  than  they  are  repealed. 
Important  innovations  are  made  upon  established  principles ;  and  experi- 
ence, the  only  sure  test  in  matters  of  legislation,  soon  demonstrates  their 
iaeffic  acy,  and  they  give  way  to  some  statutory  provision.  I  trust  that  a 
character  of  permanency  will  be  given  to  the  laws  you  are  about  to  revise, 
and  that  after  engrafting  upon  them  such  provisions  as  have  been  found 
salutary,  they  will  be  left  to  operate  until  our  legal  institutions  shall  be 
matured  by  time  and  experience." 


n  sriu 

i  •»»&  T 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Gov.  Cass  is  called  by  Gen.  Jackson  to  the  Head  of  the  War  Department— Mo- 
tives prompting  the  selection  of  Gov.  Casa — The  popularity  of  the  New  Cabi- 
net— Proceedings  of  the  citizens  of  Detroit  on  the  departure  of  Gov.  Case  for 
Washington — Address  of  Major  Biddle  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  Michigan — 
Reply  of  Gov.  Cass — He  assumes  the  duties  of  the  department — His  Indian 
policy  while  Secretary — Black  Hawk  war — His  preparations  to  bring  the  con- 
test to  a  speedy  close — Reforms  introduced  by  Gov.  Cass  in  his  department—- 
Their popularity — The  Indian  difficulties  in  Georgia — Decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  The  United  States  reviewed  by  Gov.  Cass — His  position  sustained  by 
the  people  and  adopted  by  the  President — Defences  of  the  Country — Gov. 
Cass'  views  on  the  subject — Controversy  between  the  Bank  of  United  States 
and  the  administration — .Nullification — Action  of  the  administration. 

In  1831,  upon  the  re-organization,  of  Gen  Jackson's  Cabinet, 
Governor  Cass  was  called  by  that  remarkable  man,  to  the  head 
of  the  department  of  war.  The  venerable  patriot  who  then  held 
the  office  of  President,  possessed  among  characteristics  which 
made  him  pre-eminent  over  his  fellow  men,  that  of  an  accurate 
and  ready  perception  of  the  character  and  capacity  of  others.  The 
peculiar  circumstances  attending  the  dissolution  of  his  first  cabi- 
net ;  his  own  position  before  the  American  people,  as  one,  from 
whom  much  was  expected,  deeply  impressed  him  with  the  para- 
mount necessity  of  calling  around  him,  to  aid  him  in  the  discharge 
of  his  high  responsibility,  the  first  minds  of  the  nation.  More  than 
ever,  was  the  utmost  care  and  prudence  needful  in  the  selection 
of  his  advisers.  In  this  crisis  the  President  justified  by  his  action, 
his  reputation  for  sound  judgment  and  foresight.  He  called  to  his 
Cabinet,  Edward  Livingston  of  Louisiana,  as  Secretary  of  State  ; 
Levi  Woodbury  of  New  Hampshire,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  Louis 
Me  Lane  of  Maryland,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  Lewis  Cass  of 
Michigan,  Secretary  of  War.  Roger  B.  Taney  of  Maryland  was 
appointed  Attorney  General.  Public  opinion  at  once,  decided  that 
a  more  judicious  or  popular  cabinet  could  not  be  formed.  The 
individuals  composing  it,  were  well  known  throughout  the  country, 
as  among  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  nation,  of  whom  the 
Republic  was  proud.  They  had  all  been  in  public  life,  and  were 


116  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CA8S. 

eminent  for  their  talents,  patriotism,  business  capacities,  integrity 
and  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  people.  It  is  true,  that  mur- 
murs were  heard,  emanating  from  aspirants  for  Cabinet  honors, 
that  the  President  should  seek  a  confidential  adviser  from  among 
the  wilds  of  a  far  distant  territory,  rather  than  from  the  populous 
cities  and  towns  of  the  older  States.  But  Gen.  Jackson  knew  his 
own  position  and  felt  the  weighty  responsibility  that  had  been 
thrown  upon  him.  Deference  to  the  claims  of  the  older  communi- 
ties, he  sufficiently  exhibited  in  the  formation  of  his  Cabinet.  The 
north  east,  the  south  and  the  centre  of  the  Union  were  there  rep- 
resented by  their  distinguished  men.  The  growth  of  the  West, 
the  sufferings  of  her  people  in  time  of  war,  the  residence  there  of 
men  who  had  experienced  all  the  miseries,  and  triumphed  over  the 
sufferings  of  border  warfare,  called  for  direct  participation  in  the 
Councils  of  the  Government.  General  Jackson's  own  experience 
taught  him,  who  would  be  the  proper  man  to  represent  that  section 
of  our  country  in  his  Cabinet.  Subsequent  events  confirmed 
the  wisdom  of  his  selection,  and  the  correctness  of  the  public  opin- 
ion which  approved  his  choice.  The  influence  of  such  men,  upon 
the  destiny  of  the  country,  soon  made  itself  manifest  The  energy 
with  which  the  administration  of  the  government  was  carried  on, 
excited  the  admiration  of  the  candid  of  all  parties.  It  seemed  as 
if  a  new  spirit  had  been  infused  into  the  body  politic.  New  ave- 
nues for  individual  enterprize  presented  themselves,  and  the 
old  ones  were  occupied  with  renewed  vigor.  The  fact  was  estab- 
lished, that  the  prosperity  and  advancement  of  the  country,  were  con- 
nected more  closely,  than  they  would  seem  to  be  to  the  casual  ob- 
server, with  the  rigorous  administration  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment. In  proportion  as  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  are  alert 
and  active  in  securing  opportunities  for  national  progression,  so 
are  the  interests  of  individual  members  of  community  promoted. 

The  condition  of  public  affairs  was  such  under  the  administra- 
tion of  Gen.  Jackson  and  his  constitutional  advisers,  that  every 
American  citizen,  pointed  with  admiration  and  pride  to  the  pro- 
gress of  our  country.  Long  pending  negotiations,  with  England, 
involving  questions  of  trade  and  commerce  of  the  highest  interest 
to  our  business  community,  were  successfully  terminated.  Claims 
against  France,  Denmark,  Sweden  and  Naples  were  adjusted  and 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL   CASS. 

indemnity  obtained,  commercial  treaties,  opening  new  and  advan- 
tageous sources  of  trade,  were  made.  Our  ships  found  their  way 
in  peaceable  and  profitable  communication  with  countries,  from 
which  they  had  been  previously  excluded.  Unsettled  difficulties 
were  placed  in  process  of  amicable  and  speedy  arrangement,  and 
where  it  was  apparent  that  negotiation  would  not  obtain  for  our 
country  our  just  rights,  the  determined  spirt  of  the  administration 
pointed  to  the  last  resort.  Injuries  were  redressed ;  outrages, 
however  trivial,  affecting  the  honor  of  the  country  were  punished. 
In  every  foreign  court,  in  all  countries,  and  upon  every  sea,  the 
administration  directed  its  efforts  to  the  promotion  of  public  in- 
teresis,  and  the  maintenance  and  preservation  of  national  honor 
and  faith.  The  nation  never  stood  higher  in  the  eye  of  the  world, 
nor  could  she  ever  more  safely  and  justly  challenge  the  world  to 
produce  an  equal.  Such  was  the  condition  of  this  Republic,  when 
Lewis  Cass  formed  one  of  the  President's  Cabinet. 

The  people  of  Michigan,  over  whom  he  had  so  long  presided  ; 
whose  public  affairs  he  had  administered  for  eighteen  years,  com- 
mencing at  a  period  when  gloom  and  desolation  covered  the  land, 
among  whom  he  had  lived  and  associated,  and  become  almost  to 
each  one  a  personal  friend,  were  averse  to  his  acceptance  of  any 
office  which  would  require  the  severance  of  the  political  and  per- 
sonal connection  between  them.  The  same  sense  of  duty  which 
had  actuated  him  to  exchange  in  1813  the  privileges  and  comforts 
of  settled  civilization  for  the  hazards  and  privations  of  frontier 
life  in  the  wilds  of  Michigan  territory,  with  hostile  and  blood- 
thirsty savages  in  a  state  of  warfare — now  prompted  him  to  obey 
the  voice  of  his  country,  through  her  Chief  Magistrate,  calling 
him  to  a  new  and  more  extended  sphere  of  action. 

Gov.  Cass  accepted  the  appointment  tendered  to  him  by  Gen. 
Jackson.  On  the  eve  of  his  departure  from  Michigan,  a  number 
of  citizens,  without  distinction  of  party,  assembled  at  a  public 
dinner,  given  in  compliment  to  Governor  Cass,  to  testify  their  re- 
spect and  friendly  feelings  for  their  distinguished  fellow  citizen. 

The  proceedings  on  this  occasion  demonstrate  so  clearly  the 
high  estimation  in  which  the  Governor  was  regarded  by  all,  that  a 
perusal  of  the  proceedings  and  address  of  the  President  of  the 
day,  and  the  reply  of  Governor  Cass,  will  afford  a  more  correct 


118  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  CASS. 

view  of  the  relations  existing  between  them,  than  any  other  mode 
of  narration. 

The  address  of  Major  John  Biddle,  who  presided  at  the  occa- 
sion, was  as  follows : 

YOUR  EXCELLENCY — Our  fellow  citizens  have  assigned  to  me  the  office 
of  expressing  the  sentiments  which  your  intended  departure  from  among 
them  has  universally  called  forth.  To  be  the  organ  of  conveying  to  you 
these  sentiments  is  a  most  grateful  duty,  sympathising,  as  I  do,  very  sin- 
cerely, in  the  general  feeling. 

Many  of  us  have  witnessed  your  administration  of  the  affairs  of  this 
Territory  for  a  series  of  years,  which  embrace  a  large  portion  of  the  ac- 
tive period  of  life.  The  situation  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  to  which  an 
American  citizen  can  be  called.  The  public  officer  who  is  delegated, 
•without  the  sanction  of  their  suffrages,  over  the  affairs  of  a  people  else- 
where accustomed  to  exercise,  in  its  fullest  extent,  the  right  of  self-gov- 
ernment, is  regarded  with  no  indulgent  feelings.  The  relation  is  truly 
colonial ;  and  the  history  of  Territories,  like  other  colonial  history,  has 
been  too  often  a  mere  chronicle  of  the  feuds  of  the  governing  and  the 
governed,  exhibiting  a  domineering  and  arbitrary  temper  on  the  one  side, 
met  by  a  blind  and  intemperate  opposition  on  the  other. 

From  the  evils  of  such  a  state  of  things,  we  have  happily  been  exempt- 
ed. You  have  preserved  harmony  by  wisely  conceding  to  public  opinion 
that  weight  to  which  it  is  entitled  under  every  government,  whatever  may 
be  its  forms ;  thus  giving  to  your  measures  the  support  of  the  only  au- 
thority to  which  the  habits  of  American  citizens  will  allow  them  cheer- 
fully to  submit.  The  executive  powers  of  the  Territory  have  been  ad- 
ministered in  the  spirit  of  republican  habits  and  principles  too  firmly  fixed 
to  yield  to  temporary  circumstances,  leaving  the  people  nothing  to  desire 
but  an  occasion  to  manifest  their  approbation,  by  bestowing  themselves 
an  authority  so  satisfactorily  exercised. 

Of  the  manner  in  which  yourself  and  most  estimable  family  have  per- 
formed the  courtesies,  as  well  as  the  graver  duties  of  private  life,  I  will 
permit  myself  to  say  no  more  than  that  it  has  been  duly  appreciated,  and 
has  left  an  impression  not  easily  to  be  effaced. 

The  people  of  .Michigan  will  long  remember  your  zealous  and  success- 
ful exertions  to  promote  their  welfare ;  and,  sir,  if  the  present  separation 
should  prove  a  final  one,  be  assured  that  they  will  look,  with  affectionate 
interest,  to  your  future  career,  hoping  that  in  a  more  extended  field  of  use- 
fulness?, it  may  be  as  honorable  to  yourself  and  as  beneficial  to  your  fel- 
low citizens,  as  that  has  been  which  you  are  now  about  to  terminate.  Al- 
low me  to  propose. 

LEWIS  CASS — Health  and  happiness  attend  his  future  course.  May 
the  people  of  the  United  States  duly  appreciate  the  talents  and  integrity 
which  Michigan  has  contributed  to  the  public  service  of  the  Union." 

The  delivery  of  this  address  and  sentiment  was  received  by  the 
assembled  multitude  with  great  and  sincere  enthusiasm.  The 
speaker  had  struck  a  chord  which  found  sympathy  in  the  hearts  of 
all  present,  and  could  only  find  expression  in  loud  and  prolonged 
cheers.  When  the  plaudits  and  excitement  had  subsided,  Gover- 
nor Cass  rose  and  responded  as  follows : — 

FELLOW  CITIZENS — I  return  my  sincere  thanks  for  this  distinguished 


LIFE   OF   GENERAL   CASS.  119 

mark  of  your  regard,  as  well  as  for  the  very  kind  manner  in  which  your 
sentiments  have  been  conveyed  to  me,  by  the  gentleman  who  has  been 
called  to  preside  at  this  festive  board.  This  numerous  and  respectable 
assemblage  furnishes  but  another  manifestation  of  that  kindness  which 
has  never  deserted  me,  during  the  period  of  eighteen  years,  in  which  I 
have  administered  the  Executive  department  of  the  Territorial  Govern- 
ment, and  under  many  trying  circumstances,  both  in  peace  and  war.  At 
the  commencement  of  that  period,  the  Territory  had  just  been  rescued 
from  the  grasp  of  an  enemy.  Its  population  was  small,  its  resources  ex- 
hausted, its  prospects  cheerless.  The  operations  of  the  war  had  pressed 
heavily  upon  it,  and  scenes  of  suffering  and  oppression  had  been  exhibit- 
ed, to  which,  in  the  annals  of  modern  warfare,  we  may  vainly  seek  a  par- 
allel. We  have  only  to  look  around  us  to  be  sensible  how  great  is  the 
change  which  has  since  taken  place  in  our  condition.  The  Peninsula  has 
been  explored  in  every  direction,  and  its  advantages  ascertained  and  de- 
veloped. 

The  current  of  emigration  has  reached  us,  and  is  spreading  over  our 
forests  and  prairies.  Settlements  have  been  formed,  villages  founded,  and 
roads  opened  in  every  direction.  All  the  elements  of  social  order  and 
prosperity  have  been  called  into  action,  and  are  combining  to  form  an- 
other republic,  almost  prepared  to  ask  admission  into  that  confederacy, 
which,  protecting  all  in  its  hour  of  security,  may  appeal  to  all  in  its  hour 
of  danger,  should  danger  ever  approach  it.  This  great  advantage  is  due 
to  the  intelligence,  industry,  and  enterprise  of  our  countrymen.  These 
causes  will  continue  to  operate,  until  the  vast  plain  extending  from  Lake 
Erie  to  Lake  Michigan,  shall  furnish  through  its  whole  extent  another  ex- 
ample of  the  powerful  effects  of  free  institutions  upon  the  progress  and 
prosperity  of  a  country. 

I  have  been  called,  fellow  citizens,  to  another  sphere  of  action.  To 
one  where  your  generous  confidence  cannot  alone  support  me  ;  and  where, 
I  am  apprehensive,  I  shall  find  the  duties  as  far  beyond  my  abilities,  as 
the  appointment  itself  was  beyond  my  expectations. 

But  wherever  I  may  go,  or  whatever  fortune  may  await  me,  I  shall  cher- 
ish with  unfading  recollection,  the  events  of  this  day,  and  the  sentiments 
you  have  expressed  towards  myself,  and  towards  those  whom  nature  and 
affection  have  made  the  nearest  and  dearest  to  me. 

In  severing  the  connexion  which  has  heretofore  united  me  to  the  Ter- 
ritory, permit  me  to  thank  you  for  all  the  kindness  I  have  received  from 
you.  I  can  claim  only  the  merit  of  having  endeavored  faithfully  to  exe- 
cute the  trust  reposed  in  me :  and  if,  at  the  termination  of  my  long  period 
of  service,  I  leave  you  without  a  party  for  or  against  the  Executive,  to 
your  partiality,  far  more  than  to  my  services,  must  this  result  be  attribu- 
ted. For  that  forbearance,  as  well  as  for  all  other  marks  of  your  favor, 
and  especially  for  this,  the  latest  and  the  last,  I  beg  leave  to  express  my 
feelings  in  a  sentiment — 

The  citizens  of  Michigan — May  they  be  as  prosperous  as  they  have  been 
to  me  kind  and  gener  .us. 

It  has  rarely  been  the  good  fortune  of  an  Executive  officer,  cloth- 
ed with  such  extraordinary  powers,  as  were  the  Govynors  of  the 
Territories,  by  virtue  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  to  retire  from 
official  station,  with  so  little  complaint,  or  without  having  afforded 
opportunities,  where  they  might  be  preferred  against  him.  With 
the  generous  feelings,  characteristic  of  the  people  of  the  West, 


120  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

which  makes  them  desirous  to  render  justice  where  it  is  due,  the 
people  of  Michigan  did  not  hesitate  to  proclaim  with  united  voice, 
their  satisfaction  with  the  Governor's  administration,  and  their  un- 
feigned regret,  when  their  political  connection  was  closed. 

In  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  War  department,  ne- 
essarily  onerous  and  numerous,  Gov.  Cass  brought  to  bear  all  the 
energies  of  his  nature,  and  the  wisdom  and  experience  of  his  prac- 
ticed and  active  mind.  In  his  first  report,  in  December,  1831,  he 
directed  the  attention  of  the  Executive  and  Congress,  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  certain  changes  and  reforms,  calculated  to  expedite  the 
business  of  the  department,  and  render  more  efficient  that  arm  of  na- 
tional defence  committed  to  his  guardianship.  Every  branch  of 
its  various  ramifications  received  his  attention,  and  the  most  mi- 
nute details,  elucidating  his  views,  were  presented,  so  that  convic- 
tion of  the  justness  and  importance  of  his  suggestions  could  not 
fail  to  be  the  result  of  an  examination  of  his  positions.  The  great 
question  of  Indian  policy,  was  more  directly  under  his  control, 
than  whan  acting  as  Gov.  of  Michigan.  To  the  management  of 
this  delicate  subject,  he  applied  the  knowledge  acquired  by  years 
of  personal  intercourse  with  those  people. 

In  his  report,  Gov  Cass  entered  into  an  extended  view  of  their 
condition  and  the  policy  and  duty  of  the  government  towards  them. 
The  experience  of  a  series  of  years,  served  to  confirm  his  early 
formed  opinion,  that  the  removal  of  the  great  body  of  Indians  to 
the  west  of  the  Mississippi,  must  ultimately  be  consummated. 
The  Indian  question  was  at  one  time  fraught  with  momentous  con- 
sequences, to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  was  the  subject 
of  frequent  and  angry  discussion,  as  well  as  of  misrepresentation 
and  accusation  against  the  justice  and  honor  of  the  government; 
and  at  the  present  day,  requires  continued  and  watchful  attention. 

No  man,  could  more  satisfactorily  clear  it  of  its  difficulties  and 
perplexities,  or  devise  means  to  avoid  them,  than  Gov.  Cass.  A 
knowledge  of  his  opinions,  is  consequently  indispensable  to  a  cor- 
rect understanding  of  so  intricate  a  subject.  He  remarks  on  this 
question  in  his  report. 

"The  condition  and  prospects  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  within  the  limits 
of  the  United  States,  are  yet  the  subjects  of  anxious  solicitude  to  the 
Government.  In  some  of  the  States,  they  have  been  brought  within  the 
operation  of  the  ordinary  municipal  laws,  and  these  regulations  have  been 


LWE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  121 

abrogated  by  Legislative  enactments.  This  procedure  renders  most  of 
the  provisions  of  the  various  enactments  of  Congress  upon  this  subject 
inoperative;  and  a  crisis  in  our  Indian  affairs,  has  evidently  arrived, 
which  calls  for  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  policy  adapted  to  the 
existing  state  of  things,  and  calculated  to  fix  upon  a  permanent  basis  the 
future  destiny  of  the  Indians.  Whatever  change  may  be  contemplated 
in  their  situation  or  condition,  no  one  will  advocate  the  employment  of 
force  or  improper  influence  in  effecting  it.  It  is  due  to  the  character  of 
the  government  and  the  feelings  of  the  country,  not  less  than  to  the  moral 
and  physical  imbecility  of  this  unhappy  race,  that  a  spirit  of  kindness  and 
forbearance  should  mark  the  whole  course  of  our  intercommunication 
with  them.  The  great  object,  after  satisfying  ourselves,  what  would  best 
ensure  their  permanent  welfare,  should  be  to  satisfy  them  of  the  integrity 
of  our  views  and  of  the  wisdom  of  the  course  recommended  to  them. 

"  The  Indians  who  are  placed  in  immediate  contact  with  our  settle- 
ments, have  now  the  alternative  of  remaining  in  their  present  positions, 
or  of  migrating  to  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi." 

The  question  is  then  examined  by  the  Secretary,  whether  the 
Indians  could  maintain  their  independence,  or  even  preserve  their 
existence,  while  in  contiguity  with  the  settled  portions  of  the  coun- 
try. The  subject  is  most  ably  aad  amply  discussed.  The  conclu- 
sion arrived  at  is,  that  removal  from  the  contact  of  civilization  is 
the  only  alternative  left  them  to  ensure  their  national  perpetuity. 

"  A  change  of  residence  therefore,  from  their  present  positions  to  the 
regions  west  of  the  Mississippi,  presents  the  only  hope  of  permanent  es- 
tablishment, and  improvement.  That  it  will  be  attended  with  inconvenien- 
ces and  sacrifices  no  one  can  doubt.  The  associations,  which  bind  the 
Indians  to  the  land  of  their  forefathers,  are  strong  and  enduring ;  and 
these  must  be  broken  by  their  migration.  But  they  are  also  broken  by 
our  citizens,  who  every  day  encounter  all  the  difficulties  of  similar  chan- 
ges in  pursuit  of  the  means  of  support.  And  the  experiments  that  have 
been  made  satisfactorily  shew,  that  by  proper  precautions,  and  liberal  ap- 
propriations, the  removal  and  establishment  of  the  Indians  can  be  effec- 
ted with  little  comparative  trouble  to  them  or  us.  Why  then  should  the 
policy  of  the  measure  be  disputed  or  opposed  ?  The  whole  subject  has 
materially  changed,  even  within  a  few  years  ;  and  the  imposing  consider- 
ation it  now  presents,  and  which  is  every  day  gaining  new  force,  calls  up- 
on the  government  and  the  country  to  determine  what  is  required  on  our 
part,  and  what  course  shall  be  recommended  to  the  Indians.  If  they  re- 
main, they  must  decline  and  eventually  disappear.  Such  is  the  result  of 
all  experience.  If  they  remove,  they  may  be  comfortably  established,  and 
their  moral  and  physical  condition  ameliorated.  It  is  certainly  better  for 
them  to  meet  the  difficulties  of  removal,  with  the  probability  of  an  ade- 
quate and  final  reward,  than,  yielding  to  their  constitutional  apathy,  to  sit 
still  and  perish. 

"  The  great  moral  debt  we  owe  to  this  unhappy  race  is  universally  felt 
and  acknowledged.  Diversities  of  opinion  exist  respecting  the  proper 
mode  of  discharging  this  obligation  but  its  validity  is  not  denied.  And 
there  certainly  are  difficulties  which  may  well  call  for  discussion  and  con- 
sideration. 

For  more  than  two  centuries,  we  have  been  placed  in  contact  with  the 
Indians ;  and  if  this  long  period  has  been  fruitless  in  useful  results,  it  has 
not  been  so  in  experiments,  having  in  view  their  improvement.  Able 


122  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

men  have  been  investigating  their  condition,  and  good  men  in  improving 
it.  But  all  these  labors  have  been  as  unsuccessful  in  the  issue,  as  many 
of  them  were  laborious  and  expensive  in  their  progress. 

"  The  work  has  been  aided  by  governments  and  communities,  by  public 
opinion,  by  the  obligation  of  the  law,  and  the  sanction  of  religion.  But 
its  history  furnishes  abundant  evidence  of  entire  failure,  and  every  thing 
around  us  upon  the  frontiers  confirms  its  truth.  The  Indians  have  either 
receded  as  our  settlements  advanced,  and  united  their  fragments  with  some 
kindred  tribe,  or  they  have  attempted  to  establish  themselves  upon  reser- 
vations, in  the  vain  hope  of  resisting  the  pressure  upon  them,  and  of 
preserving  their  peculiar  institutions.  Those  who  are  nearest  to  us  have 
generally  suffered  most  severely,  by  the  debasing  effects  of  ardent  spirits, 
and  by  the  loss  of  their  own  principles  of  restraint,  few  as  these  are, 
without  the  acquisition  of  ours ;  and  almost  all  of  them  have  disappeared, 
crushed  by  the  onward  course  of  events,  driven  before  them.  Not  one 
instance  can  be  produced  in  the  whole  history  of  the  intercourse  between 
the  Indians  and  the  white  men,  where  the  former  have  been  able,  in  dis- 
tricts surrounded  by  the  latter,  to  withstand,  successfully,  the  progress  of 
those  causes,  which  have  elevated  one  of  these  races,  and  depressed  the 
other.  Such  a  monument  of  former  successful  exertion  does  not  exist. 

"Indolent  in  his  habits,  the  Indian  is  opposed  to  labor  ;  improvident  in 
his  mode  of  life,  he  has  little  foresight  in  providing,  or  care  in  preserving. 
Taught  from  infancy  to  reverence  his  own  traditions  and  institutions,  he 
is  satisfied  of  their  value,  and  dreads  the  nnger  of  ihe  Great  Spirit,  if  he 
should  depart  from  the  customs  of  his  fathers.  Devoted  to  the  use  of 
ardent  spirits,  he  abandons  himself  to  its  indulgence  without  restraint. 
War  and  hunting  are  his  only  occupations,  He  can  endure  without  com- 
plaining the  extremity  of  human  suffering ;  and  if  he  cannot  overcome 
the  evils  of  his  situation,  he  submits  to  them  without  repining.  He  at- 
tributes all  the  misfortunes  of  his  race  to  the  white  man,  and  looks  with 
suspicion  upon  the  offers  of  assistance  that  are  made  him.  These  trails 
of  character,  though  not  universal,  are  yet  general ;  and  the  practical 
difficulty  they  present,  in  changing  the  condition  of  such  a  people,  is  to 
satisfy  them  of  our  sincerity,  and  the  value  of  the  aid  we  offer ;  to  hold 
out  to  them  motives  for  exertion  ;  to  call  into  action  some  powerful  feel- 
ing, which  shall  counteract  the  tendency  of  previous  impressions.  It  is 
under  such  circumstances  and  with  these  difficulties  in  view,  that  the 
government  has  been  called  upon  to  determine  what  arrangements  shall 
be  made  for  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  Indians.  Shall  they  be 
advised  to  remain  or  remove  ?  If  the  former,  their  fate  is  written  in  the 
annals  of  their  race ;  if  the  latter,  we  may  yet  hope  to  see  them  renovated 
in  character  and  condition,  by  our  example  and  instruction  and  their  ex- 
ertions." 

The  basis  of  a  plan  for  the  removal  and  permanent  establishment 
of  the  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi,  was  set  forth  in  the  report 
of  Gov.  Cass.  It  was  one  which  embraced  certain  fundamental 
principles  obviously  arising  out  of  the  nature  of  the  scheme,  and,  if 
adopted,  would  constitute  the  best  foundation  for  the  exertions  of 
the  government  and  the  welfare  of  the  Indians.  He  proposed, 
First,  That  the  country  assigned  to  them  should  be  guaranteed  to 
them  and  their  descendants,  so  long  as  they  should  continue  to  oc- 
cupy it,  and  that  it  should  be  protected  from  encroachment  of  the 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  123 

settlements  of  the  whites.  Second,  that  ardent  spirits  should  be 
excluded  from  the  new  country.  Third,  that  the  United  States 
should  be  at  all  times  prepared  with  sufficient  force  to  suppres  hos- 
tilities which  might  occur  among  the  different  tribes.  "Fourth, 
encouragement  to  severally  of  property,  and  such  provision  for  ita 
security  as  might  be  necessary  for  its  enjoyment,  not  afforded  by 
their  own  regulations.  Fifth,  assistance  and  instruction  in  the 
prosecution  of  agricultural  pursuits.  Sixth — the  enjoyment  of 
their  peculiar  institutions  not  incompatible  with  their  own  safety 
and  that  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  near  them,  and  with  the 
objects  of  their  prosperity  and  improvement.  Seventh — the  event- 
ual employment  of  persons  to  instruct  them  in  the  acquirement  of 
civilization. 

The  Indian  question  had  its  origin  at  an  early  day  in  the  formation 
of  our  government.  Successive  years  had  not  contributed  to  remove 
the  difficulties  which  encumbered  it,  and,  although  every  administra- 
tion in  its  intercourse  with  the  gradually  wasting  nation, which  in  vain 
strove  to  save  itself,  was  marked  with  the  highest  degree  of  justice  and 
benevolence,  disaffected  and  interested  persons  found  what  they 
considered  sufficient  grounds  to  traduce  the  motives  and  actions 
of  the  Government.  Like  other  great  and  commanding  questions, 
it  at  length  became  involved  with  party  politics,  and,  of  course, 
subject  to  all  the  degrees  of  misrepresentation  and  accusation, 
which  forms  so  large  a  component  of  party  warfare.  The  recom- 
mendations of  Gov.  Cass,  and  the  action  of  the  administration 
thereon,  did  not  escape  the  virulence  of  party  feeling.  And  yet, 
the  proposed  plan  was,  in  fact,  but  the  practical  realization  of  the 
intentions  of  his  predecessors.  There  were  but  few,  who  devoted 
attention  to  the  subject,  who  were  not  satisfied,  by  the  arguments 
of  the  Secretary  of  War,  that  the  views  of  the  Administration  were 
correct — that  it  was  morally  and  physically  impossible  for  the  In- 
dians to  exist  in  proximity  to,  and  surrounded  by  the  whites  ;  that 
as  a  people,  they  could  not  be  civilized ;  that  they  could  not  be 
permitted  to  live  an  independent  people,  governed  by  their  own 
regulations,  within  the  limits  of  a  sovereign  State.  There  must, 
of  necessity,  be  a  conflict  between  the  Indians  and  the  state  au- 
thorities, and,  worse  than  that,  between  the  general  government 
and  the  states.  Hence  the  administration  of  Gen.  Jackson  adop- 


124  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

ted  the  only  alternative,  the  removal  of  the  Indian?.  To  Gov.  Cass 
belonged  the  accomplishment  of  this  object.  The  wishes  and  in- 
tentions of  the  Government  were  explained  to  them — they  were 
treated  as  beings,  capable  of  understanding  their  true  interests  ; 
no  unfair  dealing,  no  coercive  means  were  adopted ;  their  agree- 
ment to  remove  was  voluntary,  and  obtained  by  negotiation  and 
explanation;  they  were  convinced  that  their  existence  depended 
upon  acquiescence  in  the  views  of  the  Government,  and  they  wise- 
ly assented  to  the  arrangements  recommended  by  the  Secretary  of 
War. 

The  principles  urged  by  Gov.  Cass  as  those  which  should  govern 
the  connection  between  our  government  and  the  Indian  tribes, 
were  adhered  to  in  its  subsequent  action.  An  extensive  and  fer- 
tile country  was  assigned  to  them.  Commissioners  were  sent  to 
visit  the  tribes  who  had  already  emigrated,  to  arrange  conflicting 
claims ;  to  settle  disputed  questions  of  boundary  ;  to  reconcile 
hostile  tribes,  and  to  carry  out  the  humane  and  just  intentions  of 
the  Government. 

In  the  summer  of  1832,  the  aggressions  of  the  Sac  and  Fox  tribes 
of  Indians  had  become  so  daring  and  extensive,  as  to  call  for  the 
interposition  of  the  government.  The  Secretary  of  War,  (Gov. 
Cass,)  versed  in  Indian  character,  and  knowing  their  mode  of  war- 
fare, adopted  prompt  and  active  measures  for  their  subjugation 
and  punishment.  The  United  States  soldiers,  stationed  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  the  scene  of  outrage,  were  concentrated  under  the  com- 
mand of  Gen.  Atkinson,  and  marched  to  the  locality  of  the  enemy. 
The  militia  of  the  State  of  Illinois  and  of  the  western  part  of  the 
territory  of  Michigan,  were  called  out  in  defence  of  the  frontier. 
Troops  were  also  sent  from  posts  on  the  Atlantic,  to  the  frontier 
establishments,  to  co-operate  with  the  command  of  Gen.  Atkinson. 
Gen.  Scott  accompanied  and  commanded  the  soldiers  from  the 
eastern  posts.  The  forces  under  Gen.  Atkinson  marched  to  the 
ground  where  it  was  supposed  the  Indians,  under  Black  Hawk, 
were  encamped.  When  they  reached  the  spot,  it  was  found  that 
the  Indians  had  withdrawn  upon  their  approach.  Gen.  Dodge  was 
dispatched  in  pursuit.  He  overtook  them  on  the  evening  of  the 
21st  of  July,  and  had  a  battle  with  a  band  of  about  three  hundred 
Sacs,  at  a  place  called  Petit  Roche,  near  the  Wisconsin  river,  and 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  12& 

about  thirty  miles  from  Fort  Winnebago.  The  Indians  retreated 
towards  the  river,  after  fifty  of  their  number  were  killed.  On  the 
twenty-seventh  and  twenty-eighth  of  July,  Gen.  Atkinson,  with 
thirteen  hundred  men,  crossed  the  Wisconsin,  and  followed  the 
trail  of  the  enemy  until  the  second  day  of  August,  when  they  came 
up  with  the  main  body  of  the  Indians,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Iowa  river.  A  battle  ensued, 
in  which  the  Indians  were  routed  and  driven  from  their  position. 
One  hundred  and  fifty  of  them  were  killed,  as  near  as  could  be 
ascertained.  The  remnant  of  the  band  crossed  the  river  and  fled 
into  the  interior.  Black  Hawk,  with  his  family,  and  the  Prophet, . 
his  brother,  were  not  found  among  any  of  the  bands  of  Indians  con- 
quered by  the  troops.  They  had  fled  up  the  Mississippi,  for  refuge, 
among  the  Winnebagoes,  who  not  long  after  the  last  decisive  bat- 
tle brought  both' Black  Hawk  and  the  Prophet,  and  delivered  them' 
up  to  our  army. 

The  energy  and  promptitude  exhibited  by  the  War  Department, 
in  adopting  at  the  outset  ample  and  effective  means  for  conquering 
the  refractory  Indians,  undoubtedly  saved  the  country  from  the 
expense  and  horrors  of  a  protracted  Indian  warfare,  consisting  of 
a  series  of  skirmishes  and  fights  between  small  parties  of  both  for- 
ces. The  campaign  was  soon  terminated  by  the  submission  of  the 
hostile  tribes,  who  were  well  satisfied,  after  witnessing  the  determi- 
nation of  the  government  to  bring  them  under  subjection,  to  enter 
into  a  treaty  of  peace,  on  the  terms  of  the  conquering  party.  Black 
Hawk  and  the  Prophet,  who  were  the  principal  instigators  of  this 
war,  were  delivered  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  re- 
tained for  some  time  as  hostages,  for  the  faithful  maintenance  on 
the  part  of  the  Indians,  of  their  treaty  stipulations. 

Gov.  Cass  introduced  many  reforms  into  the  details  of  the  man- 
agement of  the  several  public  interests  under  charge  of  the  War 
Department.  Intimately  associated  in  early  life  for  a  long  period, 
with  the  soldier,  while  on  actual  service,  he  could  not  fail  to  ob- 
serve, that  very  much  might  be  effected  by  the  Head  of  the  War 
Department,  which  would  contribute  to  the  comfort  of  the  soldier, 
while  it  entailed  no  increase  of  expenditure  upon  the  government. 
A  slight  attention  to  apparently  trivial  evils  would  be  all  that  would 
be  required  to  accomplish  important  results.  He  had  become  sat- 


126  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CA8S. 

isfied  that  many  of  the  evils  incident  to  military  establishments 
were  attributable  to  habits  of  intemperance  acquired  by  the  sol- 
diers, and  not  prevented,  or  sought  to  be,  by  military  regulations. 
As  a  highly  necessary  step  towards  the  eradication  of  a  custom  so 
pregnant  with  dangerous  consequences,  he  introduced  a  salutary 
change  in  the  subsistence  regulations  of  the  army.  In  lieu  of  spir- 
ituous liquor  which  had  been  dealt  out  to  each  soldier  as  a  part  of 
his  daily  rations,  he  established  a  commutation  therefor,  by  a  spe- 
cific sum  in  money  paid  to  each  soldier,  equal  in  amount  to  the 
value  of  the  liquor  to  which  he  was  entitled.  Beneficial  effects 
resulted  from  this  change,  although  its  full  influence  was  partially 
obstructed  by  the  opportunity  of  purchasing  from  the  suttlers  of 
the  posts  the  deleterious  article  sought  to  be  excluded.  Subse- 
quently, by  act  of  Congress,  coffee  and  sugar  were  substituted  for 
the  money  paid  for  the  commutation,  and  the  suttlers  prohibited 
from  selling  spirituous  liquors  to  the  soldiers,  or  introducing  it  in- 
to the  military  posts,  except  as  part  of  the  hospital  stores,  to  be 
used  in  cases  of  sickness.  Public  opinion,  as  well  as  the  acqui- 
escence of  the  parties  mostly  interested  in  this  step  of  reform,  sus- 
tained the  Secretary  of  War  in  his  adoption  of  a  measure  so  plainly 
and  forcibly  conducive  to  the  well  being  of  the  soldier  as  a  man,  and 
to  the  more  efficient  and  orderly  conduct  of  the  army  in  general. 

The  advantages  to  be  derived  from  we!l  disciplined  mounted 
men,  especially  during  Indian  hostilities  ;  of  an  increased  and  more 
efficient  organization  of  the  topographical  corps,  were  urged  in  the 
report  of  the  Secretary  for  the  year  1832,  with  great  force  and 
ability.  In  this  report,  also,  was  an  extended  view  of  the  condition 
of  the  Indians,  and  of  the  policy  and  duty  of  the  government  to- 
wards them.  Gov.  Cass  also  abolished  the  custom  of  parading  and 
inspecting  the  soldiers  on  the  Sabbath  ;  thus  enabling  them  to  de- 
vote their  time,  on  that  day,  to  the  proper  observance  of  its  sacred 
demands  upon  their  attention. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  controversy  between  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  state  of  Georgia,  reached  its  crisis.  The  Chero- 
kees  had  conceived  the  idea  that  by  treaties  between  their  nation 
and  the  United  States,  the  right  to  a  separate  and  independent 
government,  within  the  limits  of  the  state  of  Georgia,  was  guaran- 
teed to  them.  It  was  contended  by  Georgia,  that  she  had  a  right 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  127 

of  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  of  her  lands  with- 
in her  chartered  limits,  and  that  her  jurisdiction  of  right,  extended 
to  the  persons  and  things  within  those  limits.  That  by  the  con- 
stitution of  the  state,  final  and  conclusive  jurisdiction  in  criminal 
cases,  was  rested  in  the  courts  of  the  state ;  and  when  those  courts 
pronounced  the  sentence  of  the  law,  no  other  court  had  the  right 
to  rehear,  overule  or  reverse  that  decision — that  no  power  was 
granted  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  the  federal 
courts  to  interfere  with,  or  control  the  criminal  jurisdiction  of  the 
states.  By  the  laws  of  Georgia,  it  was  made  a  penal  offence  for 
any  person  to  reside  upon  the  lands  of  Georgia  then  in  the  occu- 
pancy of  the  Cherokees,  without  licence  from  the  Governor  of  the 
state.  The  mandate  of  those  laws  was  disobeyed,  and  the  sov. 
ereignty  of  the  state,  questioned  by  both  Indians  and  white  men, 
who  were  induced  by  a  spirit  of  speculation  and  thirst  for  the  rich 
treasures  of  the  gold  mines  to  set  at  defiance  the  laws  under  which 
they  lived.  A  collision  soon  occurred  between  the  judicial  authori- 
ty of  the  federal  government,  and  the  executive  and  ministerial 
officers  of  Georgia.  The  question  was  carried  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  and  there  a  decision  was  given  against 
the  claim  of  sovereignty  within  her  territorial  limits,  set  up  by 
Georgia.  This  decision  had  the  inevitable  tendency  to  increase 
the  difficulties  already  sufficiently  formidable,  in  the  way  of  the 
Secretary  of  war,  in  carrying  out  his  wise  and  humane  policy  to- 
wards the  Indian  tribes.  The  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  was 
to  him  a  subject  of  great  moment.  Conscientiously  opposed  to  its 
doctrines,  he  examined  the  reasons  and  argument  by  which  the 
court  had  shorn  a  sovereign  state  of  its  jurisdiction.  His  masterly 
dissection  of  the  weakness  and  fallacy  of  that  doctrine  was  the  sub- 
ject of  unqualified  approbation  among  the  most  learned  jurists  of 
the  country.  That  he  was  right,  the  event  plainly  demonstrated. 
The  policy  of  which,  he  was  the  founder,  and  firm  and  consistent 
supporter,  was  sustained  by  the  public  opinion  of  the  people.  Gen. 
Jackson  was  upheld  by  the  general  voicein  his  adoption  of  it.  Gov. 
Cass  had  the  satisfaction  of  beholding  an  exciting  and  delicate 
question  settled  upon  a  basis,  formed  by  himself,  upon  enlarged 
views  and  extensive  experience.  By  his  tact,  skill,  and  scrupu- 
lous regard  for  the  rights  of  all  interested,  he  succeeded  in  estab. 


128  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CAS8. 

lishing  upon  an  immoveable  foundation,  the  humane  and  benevo- 
lent policy  of  the  government  towards  an  unfortunate  and  fast 
disappearing  race  of  men,  and  averting  a  rupture  between  the 
federal  government  and  a  state  sovereignty,  which  threatened 
consequences  full  of  danger,  to  the  Union. 

A  question  of  the  like  character,  arose  within  the  State  of  Ala- 
bama, which  brought  the  state  and  federal  authorities  to  the 
very  point  of  collision.  The  Secretary  of  war,  fortunately  inter- 
posed, and  while  he  amply  sustained  the  claims  and  rights  of  the 
state,  he  surrounded  the  Indians  with  all  the  protections  which  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  and  treaty  stipulations  guaranteed  them. 

In  1836,  Gov.  Cass  made  his  celebrated  and  minute  report,  up- 
on the  military  and  naval  defences  of  the  country.  In  transmit- 
ting this  document  to  Congress,  Gen.  Jackson,  took  occasion  to 
say,  that  he  concurred  in  the  views  expressed  by  the  Secretary  of 
war.  There  existed  at  that  time,  not  only  much  diversity  of  opin- 
ion among  prominent  statesmen  and  military  men  of  high  rank,  in 
regard  to  this  question,  but  a  great  degree  of  misconception,  which 
subsequent  investigation,  and  more  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
wants  of  the  country  in  a  state  of  warfare,  tended  to  remove. 

The  subject,  in  all  its  extensive  ramifications,  was  thoroughly 
examined  by  the  Secretary  of  war,  and  while  he  appreciated  to  the 
entire  extent,  the  benefit  derived  from  ample  and  well  appropriated 
fortifications,  he  could  not  overlook  the  consideration,  that  a  dis- 
criminating and  judicious  application  of  public  money  to  the 
erection  and  full  equipment  of  fortifications,  at  certain  definite  lo- 
calities, would  be  more  advantageous,  and  more  effective  for  gen- 
eral protection  and  defence,  than  an  undefined  and  unregulated 
system,  which  would  build  expensive  forts,  wherever  there  was  a 
possibility  of  an  enemy  gaining  a  foothold. 

Gen.  Cass,  after  an  elaborate  examination  of  the  nature  and  condi- 
tion of  our  inland  seas,  expressed  the  opinion  that  our  lake  fron- 
tier required  no  permanent  defences,  and  that  entire  reliance  could 
be  placed  upon  the  resources,  both  in  the  personnel  and  materiel 
in  the  extent  and  natural  advantages  which  our  country  possessed 
in  that  quarter.  The  establishment  of  a  depot,  for  the  reception 
of  munitions  of  war,  in  some  part  of  Michigan,  was  suggested  as  a 
matter  of  expediency  and  precaution.  The  lake  country  from  its 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  129 

location,  in  case  of  hostilities  might  be  in  some  degree,  necessarily 
cut  off  from  expeditious  and  easy  communication  by  water  with 
the  eastern  por^on  of  the  country,  in  which  event,  such  a  depot 
would  render  the  means  of  defence,  ample  and  easily  accessible. 

Gov.  Cass  was  in  favor  of  erecting  a  line  of  defences  upon  our 
maritime  frontier,  which,  in  case  of  war,  could  be  used  in  co-ope- 
ration with  our  naval  power.  He  considered  that  possessing,  as 
we  do,  three  thousand  miles  of  sea-coast,  washed  by  an  ocean  which 
separates  us  from  the  most  civilized  and  enlightened  nations  of  the 
earth,  who,  in  case  of  war  with  us,  would  avail  themselves  of  every 
advantage  which  that  element  conferred,  to  annoy  and  injure  our 
maritime  towns  and  commerce — it  was  the  first  duty  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  augment  the  naval  defences  of  the  nation,  to  an  extent 
proportionate  with  our  resources  and  necessities.  Our  points  of 
exposure  being  numerous  and  separated,  it  would  be  impracticable 
to  keep,  at  every  point,  a  force  competent  to  resist  the  attack  of  an 
enemy,  prepared  by  naval  armament  to  make  a  vigorous  inroad  up- 
on our  shores.  Hence,  argued  Gov.  Cass,  the  Government  should 
encourage  those  branches  of  interest  essential  to  the  growth  of  a 
navy ;  so  that,  on  the  approach  of  danger,  a  fleet  might  put  to  sea 
without  delay,  sufficiently  powerful  to  meet  any  force  sent  to  our 
coast. 

"  Our  great  battle,"  says  Gov.  Cass,  in  this  luminous  report, 
"  upon  the  ocean  is  yet  to  be  fought,  and  we  shall  gain  nothing  by 
shutting  our  eyes  to  the  nature  of  the  struggle,  or  to  the  exertions 
we  shall  find  it  necessary  to  make.  All  our  institutions  are  essen- 
tially pacific,  and  every  citizen  feels  that  his  share  of  the  common 
interest  is  affected  by  the  derangement  of  business,  by  the  enorm- 
ous expense,  and  by  the  uncertain  result  of  a  war.  Our  history 
shows,  that  we  are  more  disposed  to  bear,  when  evils  ought  to  be 
borne,  than  to  seek  redress  by  appeals  to  arms ;  still,  however,  a 
contest  must  come,  and  it  behooves  us,  while  we  have  the  means, 
and  the  opportunity,  to  look  forward  to  its  attendant  circumstan- 
ces, and  to  prepare  for  the  consequences. 

"  There  is  as  little  need  for  inquiry  now,  into  our  moral,  as  into 
our  physical  capacity  to  maintain  a  navy,  and  to  meet,  upon  equal 
terms,  the  ships  and  seamen  of  any  other  nation.  Our  extended 

commerce,  creating  and  created  by  these  resources,  which  are  es- 
9 


130  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

sential  to  the  building  and  equipment  of  fleets,  removes  all  doubt 
upon  the  one  point,  and  the  history  of  our  naval  enterprise,  from 
the  moment  when  the  colors  were  first  hoisted  upon  the  hastily  pre- 
pared vessel,  at  the  commencement  of  our  revolutionary  struggle, 
to  the  last  contest,  in  which  any  of  our  ships  have  been  engaged, 
is  equally  satisfactory  upon  the  other.  The  achievements  of  our 
aavy  have  stamped  its  character  with  the  country  and  with  the 
world.  The  simple  recital  of  its  exploits  is  the  highest  eulogium 
which  can  be  pronounced  upon  it." 

After  setting  forth  further  reasons  for  providing  liberally  for  na- 
val operations,  Gov.  Cass  proceeds  : 

"  It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that  our  first  and  best  fortification  is  the 
navy.  Nor  do  I  see  any  limit  to  our  naval  preparations,  except  that  im- 
posed by  a  due  regard  for  the  public  revenues  from  time  to  time,  and  by 
the  probable  condition  of  other  maritime  nations.  Much  of  the  material 
employed  in  the  construction  and  equipment  of  vessels  is  almost  indes- 
tructible, or  at  any  rate  may  be  preserved  for  a  long  series  of  years ;  and 
if  ships  can  be  kept  thus  without  injury  upon  the  stocks,  by  being  built 
under  cover,  I  do  not  see  what  should  restrain  us  from  proceeding  to 
build  as  many  as  may  be  deemed  necessary,  and  as  fast  as  a  due  regard 
to  their  economical  and  substantial  construction  will  permit,  and  to  col- 
lect and  prepare  for  immediate  use  all  the  muni;ions  of  war,  and  other 
articles  of  equipment  not  liable  to  injury  or  decay  by  the  lapse  of  time. 
To  build  and  equip  vessels  properly,  requires  much  time,  as  well  with  re- 
ference to  the  execution  of  the  work,  as  to  the  proper  condition  of  the 
materials  employed.  Naval  means  should,  therefore,  be  provided  at  a 
period  of  leisure,  to  be  ready  for  immediate  employment  in  a  period  of 
exigency;  and  a  due  regard  to  prudence  dictates  that  these  means  should 
so  far  exceed  the  estimated  demands  of  the  service,  as  to  supply  in  the 
shortest  time  any  loss  occasioned  by  the  hazards  of  the  ocean  and  the 
accidents  of  war." 

During  the  period  that  Gov.  Cass  was  a  member  of  Jackson's 
Cabinet,  party  spirit  had  reached  a  height  until  then  unprece- 
dented in  the  political  divisions  of  our  country.  Never  was  an 
administration  so  peculiarly  situated.  Questions  threatening  the 
disruption  of  the  American  Union, arose,  among  the  other  difficulties 
which  surrounded  it.  Timid,  weak  minded  men  would  have  been 
appalled  by  the  tremendous  responsibilities  which  the  President 
and  his  Cabinet  were  called  upon  to  assume,  and  would  have  suc- 
cumbed to  the  influences  brought  to  direct  their  action  and  sway 
them  to  the  support  of  powerful  but  factious  interests.  On  the 
one  hand,  that  mighty  engine  of  money  power,  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  had  successfully  fought  its  way  through  Congress 
and  reached  the  President  with  its  renewed  charter,  demanding 


LIFE    OF    GENEEAL    CASS.  131 

his  assent  thereto.  It  was  well  known  that  as  the  representative 
of  the  democratic  party,  he  could  not  approve  the  act.  But  it 
was  hoped  by  the  friends  of  that  institution,  that  the  action  of  con- 
gress would  remove  from  the  President's  mind  the  objections  he 
entertained,  and  induce  him  to  acquiesce  in  its  proceedings.  But 
they  were  mistaken  in  their  conception  of  the  man.  With  un- 
shrinking firmness,  sustained  by  his  Cabinet,  he  returned  the  Bank 
charter  to  Congress,  vetoed.  The  nation  sanctioned  the  act,  by 
re-electing  him  the  same  year,  for  a  second  Presidential  term. 

Another  formidable  difficulty  at  the  same  time  beset  the  admin- 
istration, in  the  threats  of  secession  from  the  Union,  of  one  of  the 
States.  South  Carolina,  considered  herself  aggrieved  by  "the  acts 
and  parts  of  acts  of  the  congress  of  the  United  States,  purporting 
to  be  laws  imposing  of  duties  and  imports  on  the  importation  of 
foreign  commodities"  and  more  especially  by  "two  acts  for  the  same 
purposes  passed  in  May  1828  and  July  1832."  Preparations  were 
made  to  resist  the  operation  of  those  laws  within  her  limits.  A 
Convention  was  held — inflammatory  speeches  and  addresses 
delivered  and  an  ordinance  adopted,  requiring  from  the  citizens  of' 
that  state,  resistance  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  The  ad- 
ministration was  equal  to  the  emergency.  As  coming  immediately 
within  his  own  department,  Gov.  Cass,  at  this  eventful  crisis,  issued 
directions  to  the  Commandant  of  the  military  force  of  the  United 
States,  then  in  South  Carolina.  His  instructions  were  such  as 
true  patriotism  would  dictate.  While  on  the  one  hand,  he  was 
determined  to  sustain  the  authorities  of  the  Federal  Government,, 
and  enforce  its  laws  ;  on  the  other,  he  was  anxious  that  no  cause  of 
complaint  should  exist  against  the  government  in  regard  to  the  dis- 
position and  conduct  of  the  army.  With  this  view  he  directed 
that  the  commanding  officer,  should  in  all  cases,  while  there  was  a 

x  O  '  * 

prospect  of  difficulty,  look  to  the  Department  for  instructions.  Un- 
der the  emergency  then  existing,  it  was  deemed  expedient,  that 
the  President  alone,  ifcollision  should  arise,  should  direct  the  army. 
The  proclamation  of  the  President  was  issued,  in  which  the  sub- 
ject of  nullification  is  discussed  and  dissected  in  the  clear  and  lu- 
cid manner  which  renders  the  state  papers  of  Gen.  Jackson  so 
satisfactory  and  comprehensible  to  all.  Its  doctrines  were  precise- 
ly such  as  were  expected  from  an  administration  with  the  vener- 


132  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

able  chief  Magistrate  at  its  head.  The  unity  and  harmony  of  the 
states  he  was  determined  to  preserve.  The  right  of  a  state  to  nul- 
lify an  act  of  Congress,  was  demonstrated  to  be  the  mere  specula- 
tion of  politicians  with  treason  in  their  hearts.  The  eloquent 
manner  in  which  the  subject  was  presented  ;  the  pure  and  lofty 
patriotism  of  the  argu  nent,  the  indisputable  truth  of  the  sentiment, 
and  the  firm  and  immoveable  position  of  the  Executive,  comman- 
ded the  assent  and  admiration  of  even  the  political  enemies  of  the 
administration.  The  nullifiers  themselves  did  not  openly  become 
converts  from  their  position,  but  the  storm  of  disunion  was  stilled-- 
the  country  was  saved ;  men  began  to  reflect  on  the  foolishness, 
and  the  hopelessness  of  rebellion  against  the  federal  government, 
and  the  administration  of  Gen.  Jackson  had  the  pleasure  of  wit- 
nessing the  turbid  waters  of  nullification  settled  and  clarified  by  its 
wisdom,  firmness  and  patriotism,  the  precusors  of  subsequent  satis- 
factory legislation. 

The  action  of  the  administration  on  these  two  exciting  subjects, 
which  convulsed  ihe  Union  from  one  extremity  to  the  other,  satis- 
fied the  reflecting,  of  all  parties,  that  the  President  and  his  cabi- 
net were  the  firm,  immoveable  defenders  of  the  Constitution.  In- 
fluences, which  but  few  men  could  have  resisted,  they  battled  man- 
fully, until  the  bank  on  the  one  hand,  and  nullification  on  the  other, 
bowed  in  submission  to  the  decision  of  the  powerful  and  patriotic 
minds,  which  then  directed  the  affairs  of  the  country.  The  Union, 
by  which  Gov.  Cass  has  ever  stood,  with  out  stretched  arm  for  its 
defence,  was  brought  safely  through  a  contest  which  shook  it  to  its 
very  centre.  The  judgment  of  the  wise  and  fearless  statesmen, 
who,  in  that  hour  of  peril,  shrunk  not  from  duty,  was  sanctioned 
by  the  voice  of  a  grateful  people,  who  never  neglect  or  forget  their 
faithful  public  servants.  The  gratitude  of  a  Republic  may  be  slow 
in  its  manifestation,  its  efforts  at  expression  may,  by  momentary 
feeling,  unworthily  aroused,  be  retarded  or  temporarily  frustrated, 
but  the  "  sober,  second  thought  of  the  people,  which  is  seldom 
wrong  and  always  efficient,"  is  sure  to  make  ample  and  triumph- 
ant amends  for  the  misfortune  of  its  first  defeat. 

Gov.  Cass  was  at  the  head  of  the  war  department  for  nearly  six 
years.  His  connection  with  it  was  terminated  by  his  acceptance 
of  the  embassy  to  France,  in  which  station  he  gained  a  world-wide 
celebrity,  as  a  statesman  and  diplomatist. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

•Gov.  Cass  accepts  the  embassy  to  France — He  departs  on  his  mission — His  vigi- 
lance in  guarding  the  rights  of  his  country — He  thwarts  the  attempt  of  the  En- 
glish Ministry  to  obtain  universal  dominion  on  the  high  seas — His  examination 
of  the  question  of  the  Right  of  Search — His  protest  laid  before  the  French  Min- 
istry— Subsequent  proceedings. 

The  laborious  duties  of  his  department  having  for  a  period  of 
nearly  six  years  required  and  received  the  continued  attention  of 
Gov.  Cass,  his  health  became  impaired  by  confinement  and  the  un- 
ceasing devotion  of  his  time  to  his* official  duty.  He  was  in  con- 
sequence compelled  to  withdraw  from  the  Cabinet,  greatly  to  the 
disappointment  of  the  President,  who  expressed  a  desire  that  he 
would  if  possible  remain  until  the  expiration  of  the  presidential  term. 
But  the  state  of  his  health  forbid  his  continuance  in  that  station. 
He  resigned,  and  the  President,  unwilling  that  the  nation  should 
lose  for  any  period  the  direct  influence  of  Gov.  Cass'  experience 
and  sound  judgment  in  the  management  of  its  affairs,  tendered  him 
the  embassy  to  France.  This  appointment,  being  consistent  with 
the  intention  of  the  Governor  to  visit  the  old  world,  was  accepted  ; 
and,  in  1836,  he  departed  from  his  native  shore,  to  represent  his 
country  at  the  court  of  one  of  the  great  powers  of  Europe,  where 
he  would  meet  the  ablest  diplomatists  of  the  world,  and  whose 
schemes  might  perhaps  be  aimed  against  the  interests  of  his  own 
country. 

While  minister  to  France,  Gor.  Cass  watched  with  care  and  at- 
tention the  movements  of  the  European  Courts.  With  a  regard 
for  the  interests  and  honor  of  his  own  country,  he  permitted  no 
question  of  diplomacy,  having  the  least  bearing  upon  the  condition 
or  prospects  of  the  United  States,  to  escape  his  strict  and  energetic 
scrutiny.  The  English  government,  considering  herself  mistress 
of  the  seas,  assumed  to  draw  up  treaties  regulating  the  intercourse 
and  relationship  of  ships  of  different  nations  upon  the  high  seas. 
Regardful  of  her  own  pretensions,  she  is  never  scrupulous  of  the 


134  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

manner  or  the  place  where  she  shall  prefer  them;  nor  has  she  ever 
been,  nor  is  she  now,  disinclined  to  exert  all  the  arts  of  diplomatic 
cunning  to  blind  the  eyes  of  those  whom  she  seeks  to  bring  within 
the  power  of  her  arm,  or  whose  co-operation  she  desires,  to  assist 
in  the  attainment  of  her  objects.  Aspiring  to  the  unlimited  and 
acknowledged  mastery  of  the  seas,  she  sought  to  unite  the  five  great 
powers  of  Europe  in  a  treaty  recognition  of  the  right  of  search. 
Austria,Russia,  Prussia  and  France,  were,  with  herself.to  be  the  con- 
tracting parties  in  the  affair.  The  right  of  search  had  ever  been  op- 
posed by  the  American  government ;  and  in  her  persevering  efforts 
to  establish  the  doctrine,  England  had  been  successfully  resisted 
by  the  United  States  for  more  than  thirty  years.  Under  the  spe- 
cious pretence  of  preventing  the  trade  in  slaves,  she  again  revived 
her  pretensions,  and  so  far  influenced  the  governments  of  Europe, 
as  to  induce  them  to  sign  the  treaty  she  had  prepared.  The  ratifi- 
cation of  this  treaty,  and  its  execution,  would  have  once  more 
brought  us  into  collision  with  England.  Happily  at  this  juncture, 
Gov.  Cass,  acting  upon  his  own  responsibility,  appealed  to  the  peo- 
ple of  France,  and  protested  to  its  government  against  its  ratifica- 
tion by  the  legislative  branch  of  the  French  government.  The 
ratification  by  France  was  necessary  to  give  it  vigor  and  power. 
If  that  country  and  the  United  States  should  oppose  it,  as  most  assur- 
edly the  latter  would,  its  provisions  could  not  be  enforced,  though 
the  other  four  powers  should  countenance  it.  The  appeal  and 
protest  of  Gov.  Cass,  were  effectual.  The  French  Chamber  of 
Deputies  refused  to  ratify  the  treaty.  The  stand  taken  by  Gov. 
Cass,  thwarted  the  design  of  the  English  Government,  and  broke 
up  the  conspiracy  she  was  forming  against  trie  sovereignty  of  the 
United  States,  upon  the  free  seas  of  the  world.  It  was  this  mas- 
terly movement  of  that  distinguished  man,  that  at  the  same  time 
preserved  the  honor  of  his  country  untarnished,  and  ensured  the 
continued  peaceful  relations  between  her  and  England ;  while  a 
not  less  beneficial  result  was  attained,  by  preventing  France,  our 
first  friend  and  ally,  from  becoming  entrapped  into  the  position  of 
aid  and  supporter  of  pretensions  and  arrogance,  to  which  the  JJni- 
ted  States  never  would  submit. 

It  will  be  well  to  dwell  for  a  moment  on  the  consequences  avert- 
ed by  the  action  of  Gov.  Cass.     If  France  had  ratified  the  treaty., 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  135 

being  a  party  to  it,  she  would  have  been  bound  to  keep  her  faith 
and  enforce  its  requirements.  England,  backed  and  upheld  by  her 
great  allies,  would  have  become  more  than  ever  arrogant,  and  the 
vessels  of  the  United  States  would  have  been  at  the  mercy  of  her 
naval  officers — subject  to  be  stopped  and  searched — and  liable  to 
interruption  and  insolence,  every  where  upon  the  high  seas.  Sub- 
mission to  this  indignity,  there  would  not  have  been,  but  there 
would  have  been  war.  That  would  have  been  inevitable,  and 
with  it,  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  a  depression  of  our 
trade  and  commerce,  and  we  would  be  made  to  appear  as  if  fight- 
ing to  sustain  a  trade,  which  the  enlightened  powers  of  Europe 
were  endeavoring  to  destroy.  England,  supported  by  her  treaty, 
and  the  countenance  of  her  allies,  would  have  said  :  "  We  are  en- 
deavoring to  destroy  the  infernal  traffic  in  human  flesh.  You  op- 
pose us,  and  for  this  we  fight  you."  Such  would  have  been  her 
language,  though  false.  We  would  have  fought  her  upon  the  high- 
way of  nations,  until  the  last  spar  was  broken,  and  as  long  as  there 
was  a  rag  to  flutter  in  the  breeze ;  but  it  would  have  cost  us  an  in- 
calculable sum,  and  thousands  of  noble  lives.  France,  thus  placed 
by  Gov.  Cass,  with  the  United  States,  as  the  committed  defenders 
of  the  liberty  of  the  seas,  made  England  pause  in  her  onward 
course  after  maritime  absolutism,  and  seek  in  truth  and  reality,  by 
negotiation,  the  object  which  before  was  only  used  as  a  cloak  for 
other  and  selfish  purposes.  In  a  pamphlet  entitled,  "  an  examina- 
tion of  the  question,  now  in  discussion,  between  the  American  and 
British  Governments,  concerning  the  right  of  search,"  Gov.  Cass 
laid  before  the  world  the  true  issue,  with  the  circumstances  arising 

out  of  the  peculiar  relation  to  it,  and  the  grounds  upon  which  the 

f 

demand  of  the  British  Government  and  the  refusal  of  the  United 
States,  were  maintained. 

The  proceedings  of  our  Minister  upon  this  question  of  gravest 
import  to  the  world,  should  receive  the  study  and  examination  of 
every  citizen  of  the  United  States.  His  own  reasons  and  argu- 
ments for  his  course,  present  a  view  of  the  entire  subject,  which 
must  carry  conviction  of  its  propriety,  to  every  mind  not  closed 
against  the  light  of  reason  and  the  force  of  truth.  The  following 
document,  written  and  published  by  Gen.  Cass,  in  Paris,  in  Janu- 


136  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

ary,  1842,  will  convey  to  the  render  a  full  exposition  of  the  great 
and  complicated  question  which  it  discusses. 

THE  RIGHT  OF  SEARCH. 

An  examination  of  the  question,  now  in  discussion,  between  the 
American  and  British  Governments,  concerning  the  Right  of 
Search.  '  By  an  American. 

When  we  doubted,  we  took  the  trick.— Londan  Times,  Jan.,  1842. 

The  right  of  maritime  search,  now  in  discussion  between  the 
British  and  American  Governments,  is  a  grave  question,  practi- 
cally interesting  to  all  nations,  to  whom  the  freedom  of  the  seas  is 
dear ;  if  not  in  its  application  to  the  subject,  which  has  been  the 
cause  or  the  pretext  of  its  assertion,  at  any  rate,  from  the  conse- 
quences to  which  its  use  or  abuse  may  lead.  Its  connexion  with 
the  African  slave  trade  is  but  incidental,  and  the  nature  of  this 
traffic,  which  no  where  finds  advocates,  cannot  affect  the  nature  of 
this  question;  nor  the  right  of  a  state  nor  of  a  combination  of  states 
to  make  an  interpolation  into  the  law  of  nations,  which  shall  be- 
come a  part  of  that  great  public  code.  Great  Britain  professes  to 
push  this  point,  in  order  to  destroy  the  yet  existing  relics  of  that 
trade.  We  do  not  question  her  motives  :  that  is  no  part  of  our 
purpose.  But  in  all  general  discussions,  we  must  take  human  na- 
ture, as  it  is,  with  the  good  and  the  bad  blended  together  ;  that 
we  may,  without  offence,  fairly  follow  out  the  application  of  a  prin- 
ciple, and  seek  its  consequences  to  the  parties.  And  we  are  at 
liberty,  without  violating  any  of  the  courtesies  of  a  liberal  contro- 
versy, to  assume,  that  neither  can  be  indifferent  to  its  bearing  upon 
their  interest,  whatever  motive  of  general  benevolence  may  have 
led  to  the  difference.  Great  Britain  is  eminently  a  maritime  and 
commercial  nation,  and  the  history  of  her  naval  progress,  during 
the  last  century  and  a  half,  is  pregnant  with  lessons  for  all  people 
interested  in  the  freedom  of  the  seas.  She  has  marched  steadily 
on  to  her  object.  Naval  superiority  she  has  acquired,  arid  naval 
supremacy  she  seeks.  We  say  this  in  a  spirit  of  truth,  not  of  of- 
fence. Human  ambition  is  every  where,  in  some  form  or  other, 
in  ceaseless  action  ;  and  upon  sea  and  land,  the  history  of  the  past 
is  but  the  warning  of  the  future ;  and  nations  will  strive,  as  they 
have  striven,  for  power.  It  is  impossible,  that  the  intelligent  gov- 
ernment and  people  of  Great  Britain  should  shut  their  eyes  to  the 
effect  of  this  claim  of  a  right  of  search  upon  their  interests,  what- 
ever motives  of  philanthropy  may  have  led  to  its  first  suggestion. 
To  their  flag  it  will  give  the  virtual  supremacy  of  the  seas.  We 
say  virtual  supremacy,  because  it  would  be  found  in  practice,  that 
ninety  nine  times  out  of  a  hundred,  it  would  be  her  cruisers  which 
would  search  the  vessels  of  other  nations. 

During  twenty  five  years  the  British  Government  has  urged  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  to  consent  to  this  measure.  The 
application  has  been  steadily  repelled,  and  pertinaciously  repeated. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  105 

In  the  mean  time  treaties  have  been  formed,  at  various  intervals, 
between  Great  Britain  and  some  other  nations,  establishing  a  mu- 
tual right  of  search,  and  regulating  the  principles  upon  which  it 
shall  be  exercised.  Within  a  short  time,  five  of  the  European  pow- 
ers, two  of  which  have  few  vessels  upon  the  Ocean,  and  probably 
not  one  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  have  reciprocally  made  themselves 
parties  to  a  similar  convention.  "Great  Britain,"  says  the  London 
journal,  The  Times,  "has  managed  by  great  exertions  to  accom- 
plish this  object."  We  do  not  judge,  if  the  expression  is  rightly 
chosen.  It  is  certainly  very  significant.  And  now,  this  principle 
of  the  right  of  search,  in  a  time  of  profound  peace,  heretofore  nev- 
er claimed  as  a  question  of  right,  and  so  solemnly  decided  by  the 
English  admiralty  judge,  Lord  Stowell,  but  sought  as  a  conven- 
tional arrangement,  for  the  first  time,  since  the  last  general  war  in 
Europe,  and  established  by  treaties  with  several  powers,  as  a  mat- 
ter to  be  regulated  by  themselves,  is  claimed  by  Great  Britain  to 
be  a  part  of  the  law  of  nations,  which  she  has  both  the  right  and 
the  will  to  carry  into  effect,  as  a  sort  of  custos  morum  for  all  the 
maritime  powers  of  the  world.  "All  our  government  contends  for," 
says  the  Times,  "  is  the  mere  right  to  act  as  constables  in  board- 
ing suspicious  ships,  bearing  the  American  flag."  And  who  made 
England  the  great  Prefet  of  police  of  the  Ocean,  searching  and 
seizing  at  pleasure  ?  And  the  United  States,  who  have  so  long 
been  asked  to  yield  this  point  by  convention,  are  now  told,  that 
it  is  established  without  them,  and  in  spite  of  them;  and  the  great 
ministerial  English  journal,  The  Times,  in  a  leading  article  of 
its  number  of  January  5th,  1842,  after  defending  this  interpolation 
into  the  law  of  nations,  says,  that  the  European  powers,  parties  to 
the  last  treaty,  will  not  brook  to  be  thwarted  by  any  ordinary  rest- 
iveness.  It  thus  significantly  concludes.  "  A  single  war  with 
Great  Britain  she  (the  United  States)  has  already  tried,  a  war,  on 
her  part,  with  all  Europe  will  be  a  novelty." 

There  is  certainly  no  want  of  frankness  here.  While  the  spe- 
cial ambassador,  lord  Ashburton,  goes  out,  with  the  professed  ob- 
jects of  peace  and  conciliation,  we  are  told  in  effect  by  this  lead- 
ing journal,  that  the  United  States  have  but  one  course  to  adopt, 
in  order  to  avoid  a  war  with  the  European  world,  and  that  is,  sub- 
mission to  the  demand  of  England.  There  are  powers,  parties  to 
the  late  treaty  upon  this  subject,  which  we  shall  not  believe  will 
make  themselves  parties  to  a  war  with  the  United  States,  until  we 
actually  hear  the  sound  of  their  guns.  Does  the  Times  speak 
by  permission,  or  by  command,  or  by  neither  ?  Is  this  declaration 
a  prophecy,  as  well  as  threat  1 

As  to  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  it  is  a  question,  which 
meets  no  opposition  in  the  United  States.  The  American  govern- 
ment, if  not  the  first,  was  among  the  first  to  give  the  example  to 
the  world,  of  a  legal  prohibition  of  this  traffic.  As  early  as  March 
22d,  1794,  they  commenced  their  legislative  measures  for  its  re- 
pression, and  in  subsequent  laws,  passed  10th  May,  1800,  28th 


138  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  CASS. 

February,  1803,  2d  March,  1S07,  20th  April,  1818,  and  3d  March 
1819,  they  extended  and  enforced  the  provisions  and  penalties  up- 
on this  subject,  and  rendered  liable  to  heavy  fines,  and  among  other 
punishments,  to  an  imprisonment  of  seven  years,  those,  who  should 
be  engaged  in  this  nefarious  pursuit.     Their  armed  cruisers  have 
permanent  instructions  to  examine  all  the  American  merchant  ves- 
sels they  meet,  and  which  they  have  reason  to  suspect ;  and  their 
tribunals  enforce  these  repressive  laws  with  as  much  promptitude 
and  impartiality,  as  those  of  France  or  England  enforce  similar 
laws.     That  violations  may  occasionally  occur,  and  that  the  Amer- 
ican flag  may  be  sometimes  abused,  we  feel  no  disposition  to  deny. 
Not  by  the  introduction  of  slaves  into  the  United  States,  for  that 
traffic  is  unknown,  and  would  be  impossible.     We  may  venture  to 
assert,  that  not  a  slave  has  been  imported  into  the  United  States 
for  thirty  years.     We  would  not  be  guilty  of  deception  upon  this 
subject,  and  if  there  is  a  single  exception  to  this  statement,  we  have 
never  learned  it.     If  American  interests  are  connected  with  this 
traffic,  it  is  in  the  transportation  of  slaves  to  Brazil  or  to  the  Span- 
ish colonies.     But  even  this  is  much  rarer  than  is  supposed,  and 
what  has  given  occasion  to  the  imputation  of  its  frequent  occur- 
rence is  the  fact,  that  the  sharp  Baltimore  schooners,  well  known 
for  their  speed,  are  often  sold  to  the  Spanish,  and  Portugese  mer- 
chants, and  are  then  fitted  out  for  the  slave  trade.     Every  practi- 
cal sailor  knows  them  at  once,  and,  as  they  are  American  built, 
they  are  supposed  to  be  American  property,  when,  in  truth,  their 
national  character  is  changed.     But  any  candid,  intelligent  man 
will  at  once  see  and  acknowledge,  that  in  a  scandalous  traffic  like 
this  in  human  beings,  condemned  by  the  public  opinion  and  by  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  and  watched  perpetually  by  one  of  their 
squadrons  upon  the  coast  of  Africa,  revolting  to  humanity,  afflict- 
ing to  all   Christians,  and  reprobated  by  the  civilized  world,  the 
pecuniary  interests  of  a  few  degraded  men,  who  covertly  pursue  it, 
by  associating  their  capital  with  the  regular  slave  dealers  of  other 
nations,  would  not  weigh  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance  with  the 
American  government,  in  any  consideration,  connected  with  this 
matter.     This  miserable  motive  has  been  hinted  at,  rather  than  dis- 
tinctly charged  by  some  of  the  English  journals.     We  shall  not 
descend  to  refute  the  charge.     No  administration  in  the  United 
States,  giving  the  least  just  ground  for  such  an  imputation,  could 
resist   the  public   indignation.     No,  it  is  not  African  slavery   the 
United  States  wish  to  encourage.     It  is,  as  we  shall  see,  by-and- 
by,  American  slavery,  the  slavery  of  American  sailors,  they  seek  to 
prevent. 

But  after  all,  a  crusade  of  benevolence  cannot  be  carried  on 
against  any  nation,  because  its  laws  are  sometimes  violated  and  its 
flag  abused.  If  its  government  connives  at  such  measures,  then, 
indeed,  it  is  justly  liable  to  the  reproach  of  Christendom.  But 
against  the  United  States  there  is  no  pretence  for  such  an  imputa- 
tion, and  the  question  now  under  discussion  must  be  judged,  inde- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  139 

pendently  of  these  accidental  evasions,  which  are  common  to  all 
nations  and  to  all  codes. 

As  to  a  right  of  search  in  time  of  peace,  no  one  pretends  it  has 
heretofore  existed.  The  well  known  English  admiralty  judge,  Sir 
William  Scott,  afterwards  Lord  Stowell,  whose  disposition  to  en- 
large, rather  than  to  restrain  the  maritime  pretensions  of  England, 
no  one,  who  knows  the  course  of  his  decisions,  during  the  last 
general  war,  will  doubt,  expressly  decided,  that  such  a  right  was 
unknown  to  the  law  of  nations.  This  decision,  in  the  case  of  a 
French  vessel,  seized  upon  the  coast  of  Africa,  absolutely  puts  down 
all  this  pretension  in  the  most  authoritative  manner. 

"  No  nation  can  exercise  a  right  of  visitation  and  search  upon 
the  common  and  unappropriated  parts  of  the  ocean,  except  upon 
the  belligerent  claim.  No  nation  has  the  right  to  force  their  way, 
for  the  liberation  of  Africa,  by  trampling  upon  the  independence 
of  other  states,  on  the  pretence  of  an  eminent  good,  by  means  that 
are  unlawful,  or  to  press  forward  to  a  great  principle,  by  breaking 
through  other  great  principles,  which  stand  in  their  way." 

But  it  may  be  asked,  as  the  object,  for  which  this  measure  is 
now  demanded,  is  just,  why  does  not  the  American  government  as- 
ent  to  the  propositions,  which  have  been  made.  Is  this  reciprocal 
power  more  injurious  or  less  honorable  to  the  United  States,  than 
to  other  nations,  who  have  admitted  its  obligation  ?  The  question 
is  a  fair  one,  and  ought  to  be  fairly  met.  If  this  cannot  be  done 
we  shall  not  deny,  that  the  motives  of  the  United  States  may  be 
fairly  suspected,  and  their  conduct  arraigned  at  the  bar  of  Chris- 
tendom. 

In  the  first  place,  we  would  remark,  that  there  is  a  natural  in- 
disposition in  the  human  mind  to  yield  to  applications,  which  are 
accompanied  with  threats  of  the  consequences.  This  sentiment  is 
common  to  nations,  as  well  as  to  individuals,  and,  in  fact,  forms 
part  of  the  dignity  of  human  nature.  English  pertinacity  in  de- 
manding has  been  met  by  American  pertinacity  in  resisting :  and 
now,  when  the  United  States  are  summoned  to  give  their  adhesion 
to  a  new  principle  of  public  law,  against  which  they  have  uniform- 
ly protested,  since  its  first  promulgation,  and  are  told  by  Lord 
Aberdeen,  that  the  course  of  the  English  government  is  taken,  and 
that  this  claim  will  be  enforced,  with  the  taunt  that,  "It  is  for  the 
American  government  to  determine,  what  may  be  due  to  a  just 
regard  for  their  national  dignity  and  national  honor,"  no  generous 
people  can  fail  to  find  in  their  present  position  that  just  resistance 
to  dictation,  without  which  there  can  neither  be  self-respect  at 
home,  nor  honorable  estimation  abroad. 

But,  besides,  where  would  end  this  doctrine  of  interpolation  ? 
Who  can  tell  the  extent,  to  which  it  may  be  pushed,  or  the  purpo- 
ses, to  which  it  may  be  applied  ?  It  is  by  progressive  steps,  that 
many  a  pretension,  hostile  to  the  best  dictates  of  reason  and  hu- 
manity, has  urged  its  way  to  recognition,  and  taken  its  place  in 
the  code  of  maritime  laws.  Belligerent  powers  are  always  ready 


140  LIFE    OF    GENERAL 

to  break  down  the  feeble  barriers,  with  which  public  opinion  has 
endeavored  to  protect  the  rights  of  peaceful  traffic  ;  and  in  the 
Times  of  the  eighth  instant,  this  process  is  described  and  de- 
fended with  equal  frankness  and  coolness.  The  lessons  of  the  past 
are  lost  upon  him,  who  does  not  read  in  this  avowal,  the  contem- 
plated transformations,  which  the  great  maritime  code  is  destined 
to  undergo.  An  act  of  violence  of  yesterday,  so  pronounced  by 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Lord  Stowell,  becomes  the  doctrine  of 
to-day,  and  to-morrow  finds  itself  firmly  established,  to  be  defended 
by  jurists,  enforced  by  cannon,  and  applied  by  courts  of  admiralty. 

"  And  the  same  kind  of  general  proscription,  since  attempted  by 
Napoleon  against  ourselves,  has  equally  failed  to  gain  admittance 
into  the  international  code.  In  all  this,  history,  justice  and  expe- 
diency have  alternately  triumphed,  but  each  step  has  been  the  result 
of  a  struggle,  (the  italics,  here  and  elsewhere,  are  our  own),  such 
as  is  now  pending  between  ourselves  and  the  United  States.  Law 
has  always  had  to  work  its  own  way."  Significant  words  these, 
and  as  true  as  they  are  significant.  When  force  more  and  more 
usurps  the  place  of  justice,  law  ^corks  its  own  ivay,  and  it  goes  on 
bearing  down  before  it  the  doctrines  of  jurists,  the  decisions  of 
judges  and  the  rights  of  the  world. 

But  apart  from  these  general  considerations,  applicable  to  all 
changes  in  the  maritime  code  of  nations,  there  are  cogent  reasons, 
why  the  United  States  should  refuse  their  assent  to  this  measure, 
some  of  which  are  common  to  them  and  to  all  other  States,  which 
do  not  seek  to  exercise  the  police  of  the  seas,  or  as  the  Times 
says,  to  be  the  constables  of  the  ocean,  and  others,  which  are  prop- 
er to  them  only,  arising  out  of  the  peculiar  relation,  which  a  com- 
munity of  language,  manners  and  institutions,  exerts  between  them 
and  England. 

Looking  to  this  right  of  search,  as  a  measure  affecting  the  com- 
merce of  the  ocean,  it  is  arbitrary,  vexatious,  and  not  only  liable, 
but  necessarily,  liable  to  serious  abuse. 

It  is  arbitrary,  because  it  constitutes  a  naval  officer,  whatever 
may  be  his  rank,  the  judge  to  decide  upon  serious  questions,  and 
upon  grave  interests.  It  permits  a  foreigner,  under  the  pretence 
of  settling  the  national  character  of  a  vessel,  and  the  objects  of  her 
cruize,  to  indulge  his  antipathies  or  his  love  of  gain,  by  seizing  the 
ship  and  cargo,  and  imprisoning  the  crew,  and  by  sending  them 
to  a  distant  port  for  examination  ;  and  all  this  without  any  practi- 
cal redress  against  the  wrong  doer. 

It  is  vexatious,  because  all,  who  know  anything  of  the  course  of 
boarding  ships  and  boarding  officers,  under  similar  circumstances, 
know,  that  the  search  is  pursued  with  little  regard  to  justice  or 
forbearance.  There  is  power  on  one  side,  and  weakness  on  the  other 
The  American  vessels,  during  the  long  period  of  lawless  domina- 
tion, which  the  belligerent  powers  exercised  over  the  high  seas  for 
many  years,  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present,  were  too  often  the  victims  of  a  similar  search, 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  141 

instigated  frequently  by  cupidity,  and  conducted  in  the  most  inju- 
rious and  offensive  manner,  to  leave  any  doubts  respecting  the 
course,  which  would  be  taken,  should  this  claim  be  recognized. 
In  this  condemnation,  we  speak  now  of  what  is  history.  We  stop 
not  to  examine  the  value  of  the  pretensions,  by  which  these  aggres- 
sions were  sought  to  be  justified  ;  that  the  antagonist  party  had  com- 
menced this  work  of  violence  ;  nor  the  truth  of  the  charges,  thus 
respectively  preferred.  And  the  vessels  of  France,  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  the  Hanse  towns  have  already  had  a  foretaste  of 
what  will  occur,  when  a  few  years  more  shall  have  consecrated  the 
present  doctrine,  as  an  acknowledged  principle  of  international  law. 
The  crews  will  be  paraded  and  examined,  perhaps  by  a  young  mid- 
shipman, and  this  offensive  operation  will  be  rendered  more  offen- 
sive, by  that  kind  of  insolence,  which  is  every  where  the  sure 
accompaniment  of  unchecked  responsibility.  This  tendency  to 
abuse  cannot  be  better  described,  than  it  has  been  by  the  London 
Sun  and  as  its  views,  upon  this  question,  are  more  authoritative 
than  ours,  we  shall  quote  them.  It  says,  that  arbitrary  habits  "  are 
engendered  and  maintained  in  our  naval  officers  by  the  mode  em- 
ployed to  procure  men  for  the  fleet,  and  those  habits  make  them 
treat  foreign  vessels  in  an  arbitrary  manner."  So  far  as  respects 
the  treatment  of  merchant  vessels,  this  is  true  to  the  letter.  And 
once  establish  this  right  of  search,  and  the  scenes  of  violence, 
which  checquered  the  ocean  for  twenty  years,  will  again  be  re- 
newed. The  hatches  will  be  broken  open,  the  cargo  overhauled, 
property  dilapidated,  and  many  articles  will  be  taken,  as  they 
have  been  taken,  without  permission  and  without  compensation. 
This  has  often  happened,  and  is  an  abuse,  inseparable  from  such 
proceedings.  Prohibited  and  deplored,  no  doubt,  by  all  honor- 
able officers  of  a  boarding  ship,  but,  where  might  makes  right 
easily  effected,  and  not  easily  detected  and  punished.  The  an- 
nals of  American  voyages  abound  with  similar  incidents,  which 
occurred  during  those  stormy  periods.  And  the  complaints  were 
not  confined  to  the  conduct  of  one  of  the  belligerent  powers,  though 
one  from  the  number  of  its  cruizers,  if  for  no  other  cause,  was 
much  more  injurious  to  the  American  commerce  than  the  other. 

We  speak  of  all  this,  as  an  historian,  but  we  speak  of  it,  as  an 
historian,  holding  up  the  past,  as  a  warning,  and  predicting,  that 
the  future  will  bring  with  it  the  same  consequences,  if  the  same 
causes  are  put  in  operation.  The  Journal,  the  Scotsman,  is 
perfectly  correct  in  its  appreciation  of  the  American  feeling,  when 
it  says,  "We  have  little  doubt,  that  the  arrogant  and  indefensible 
right  of  search,  claimed  by  Great  Britain  in  the  last  war,  lies  at 
the  bottom  of  the  stubborn  hostility  of  the  Americans  to  the  rea- 
sonable propositions  of  our  government." 

But  again,  this  claim  is  liable  to  serious  abuse,  because,  there 
are  strong  temptations,  both  national  and  individual,  to  pervert  the 
professed  objects  of  the  search  into  others,  which  though  not 
avowed,  are  apparent;  and  because  the  remedy  is  distant,  expen- 
sive and  doubtful. 


142  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

The  commerce  of  Africa  is  already  important,  and  is  becoming 
more  so  every  day.  The  very  suppression  of  the  trade  in  human 
beings  will  tend  obviously  to  turn  industry  and  capital  into  other 
branches  of  employment.  England  is  now  exploring  the  interior  of 
that  great  Continent,  and  with  her  accustomed  foresight  is  pushing 
her  intercourse  with  the  native  tribes,  and  preparing  new  means  of 
communication.  Who  can  doubt,  but  that  English  cruizers,  sta- 
rioned  upon  that  distant  coast,  with  an  unlimited  right  of  search, 
and  discretionary  authority  to  take  possession  of  all  vessels  fre- 
quenting those  seas,  will  seriously  interrupt  the  trade  of  other  na- 
tions, by  sending  in  their  vessels  for  trial  under  very  slight  pre- 
tences, and  in  fact  under  no  real  pretence  whatever.  For  we 
must  not  loose  sight  of  one  of  the  most  important  elements  in  all 
this  controversy ;  which  is,  that  the  mere  appearance  of  a  merchant 
ship  in  those  regions  is  ipso  facto  suspicious.  This  is  the  very 
ground  work  of  the  English  pretension  ;  the  right,  as  her  govern- 
ment now  contends,  to  ascertain  by  actual  examination  the  true 
character  of  every  vessel,  found  in  "  certain  latitudes,"  which  are 
assumed  to  be  suspicious  ;  as  the  quarantine  regulations  presup- 
pose many  regions  to  be  always  pestiferous.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, a  boarding  officer,  stimulated  by  that  reward,  which  a 
successful  capture  always  brings  with  it,  and  by  a  determination, 
which  may  not  be  uncharitably  charged  to  him,  of  favoring  the 
trade  of  his  own  country,  and  of  discouraging  that  of  another,  will 
readily  believe,  or  affect  to  believe,  not  that  there  is  just  ground 
to  suspect  the  destination  of  a  vessel ;  that,  her  very  appearance 
upon  his  cruising  ground  furnishes,  agreeably  to  these  new  insti- 
tutes; but  that  the  redeeming  circumstances  about  her  are  not 
sufficient  to  establish,  that  her  cruise  is  a  lawful  one,  or  that  she  is 
entitled  to  the  national  character,  she  claims;  and  that  she  must 
be  sent  to  a  Court  of  Admiralty,  to  one  of  those  great 
Maelstroms,  which  swallowed  up  so  many  American  ships,  during 
that  period,  when  there  was  no  right  upon  the  ocean,  but  the 
right  of  force.  The  vexation  and  interruption  of  voyages,  the  re- 
sult of  this  system,  are  easily  understood.  A  trade  carried  on  un- 
der such  unfavorable  circumstances,  cannot  contend  with  the  trade 
of  a  favored  nation,  who  herself,  exercises  the  police  of  the  seas, 
and  who  may  be  harsh  or  lenient,  as  her  prejudices  or  interest  may 
dictate.  It  must  be  abandoned,  as  some  of  the  Paris  journals  of 
the  eighth  instant  announce,  that  the  French  vessel  the  Sophie 
has  just  changed  her  destination,  rather  than  subject  herself  to  the 
vexations,  whiefli  another  French  ship  the  Marabout  had  expe- 
rienced from  the  English  cruisers  upon  the  coast  of  Brazil.  As 
to  the  indignity,  to  which  this  proceeding  will  expose  the  officers 
and  crews  of  merchant  ships,  that  must  be  left  to  every  nation  to 
appreciate  for  itself.  It  is  not  probable,  that  the  pretension  will 
be  rendered  less  offensive  by  the  mode  of  its  execution. 

But  beyond  all  these  objections,  applicable  in  common  to  every 
maritime  nation,  there  is  another,  far  more  powerful  in  its  opera- 
tion, and  which,  from  the  peculiar  relation  of  language,  manners 


LIFE    OE    GENERAL    CASS.  143 

and  institutions,  that  exist  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  renders  this  measure,  not  only  obnoxious,  but  to  the  last 
degree  unacceptable  to  the  American  government  and  people. 
We  would  not  impute  unworthy  motives  to  a  great  and  intelligent 
people,  and  Great  Britain  has  done  enough  to  command  for  herself 
her  full  share  of  the  admiration  of  the  world.  But  we  must  take 
human  nature  as  we  find  it,  and  the  code  of  political  ethics  is  a 
loose  system,  where  there  is  much,  both  of  good  and  evil.  Amidst 
many  gradual  meliorations  in  the  constitution  of  England,  she  has 
adhered  with  wonderful  tenacity  to  certain  pretensions,  arising  out 
of  feudal  notions,  and  among  others,  to  one  by  which  she  claims 
that  every  person  born  under  her  government  is  forever  a  British 
subject,  and  that  if  he  is  by  condition  a  seaman,  he  is  liable  to  be 
taken,  wherever  he  can  be  found,  and  forcibly  compelled  to  serve 
an  unlimited  period  on  board  her  vessels  of  war.  This  is  not  a 
conscription  which  operates  equally  upon  all,  subjecting  all  to  the 
same  chance,  and  requiring  their  services  upon  established  condi- 
tions, and  for  fixed  periods.  However,  so  far  as  this  is  a  municipal 
regulation,  other  nations  have  no  concern  with  its  justice  or  policy, 
except  as  a  subject  of  general  speculation.  But  unfortunately  for 
the  duration  of  harmony  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Brit- 
ain, this  pretension  is  a  subject  of  fearful  importance.  The  Brit- 
ish government  claims  the  right  of  impressing  seamen  on  board 
the  merchant  vessels,  of  the  United  States,  and  once,  as  is  well 
known,  they  exercised  this  right  on  board  the  Chesapeake  frigate, 
after  an  action  in  profound  peace,  when  the  American  ship  was 
compelled  to  yield  to  superior  force.  The  conduct  of  the  com- 
mander was  however  disavowed,  but  his  zeal  was  rewarded  by 
promotion. 

It  is  now  matter  of  history,  that  for  many  years,  the  British 
armed  ships  boarded  the  American  vessels,  wherever  they  found 
them  upon  the  ocean,  and  seized  their  crews,  incorporating  them 
with  their  own,  and  compelling  them  to  fight  the  battles  of  a  foreign 
power ;  first  against  France,  and  ultimately,  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war,  to  which  these  aggressions  gave  rise,  to  fight 
against  their  own  country.  fn  theory,  indeed,  the  British 
government  did  not  arrogate  to  itself  the  right  to  impress  Ameri- 
can citizens,  unless  those  citizens  had  been  born  British  subjects. 
In  that  case,  the  new  character  with  which  they  were  invested, 
gave  them  no  protection  against  this  pretension.  But  in  its  prac- 
tical operation,  this  power  was  exercised  with  a  general  disregard 
of  the  character  of  the  American  crews,  the  boarding  officer  being 
the  final  judge,  and  the  cruiser  being  almost  always  in  want  of 
able  seamen.  A  midshipman  entered  an  American  vessel  with 
absolute  power,  mustered  the  crew,  declared  that  such  and  such 
persons  were  British  subjects,  seized  them,  and  transported  them 
to  his  own  ship,  to  be  released  by  death,  or  by  a  general  peace. 

Vain  were  the  protestations  of  these  unhappy  victims  of  lawless 
aggression ;  vain  the  opposition  of  the  captain ;  vain  the  proofs 


144  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CAS8. 

furnished  by  the  papers.  His  Britanic  majesty's  ships  wanted 
seamen,  and  seamen  they  took.  During  many  years,  a  warm  di- 
plomatic correspondence  was  carried  on  between  the  two  govern- 
ments, but  the  argument  being  exhausted,  and  the  abuse  continu- 
ed, an  appeal  was  finally  made  to  arms. 

The  British  government  said,  our  seamen  seek  protection  in  the 
United  States,  and  enter  into  their  marine,  and  thus  escape  from 
the  duties,  they  owe  to  their  own  country.  We  have  a  right  to 
their  services,  and  we  have  also  a  right  to  take  them,  wherever 
we  can  find  them  in  merchant  ships  on  the  high  seas,  having  first 
entered  these  ships  for  another  purpose. 

To  this,  the  American  government  answered,  we  deny  the  doc- 
trine of  perpetual  allegiance.  Our  country  is  open,  and  if  foreign- 
ers come  -here,  after  a  certain  number  of  years,  and  compliance 
with  certain  established  formalities,  they  may  be  invested  with  the 
character  of  American  citizens,  and  then  it  is  our  duty  to  protect 
them.  You  adopt  the  same  principle,  and  follow  the  same  prac- 
tice ;  you  naturalize.by  special  Acts  of  Parliament :  you  naturalize 
all  persons,  who  reside  a  certain  number  of  years  in  your  colonies ; 
and  you  naturalize  all  seamen,  who  have  served  a  short  term  in 
your  navy.  At  this  moment,  the  Governors  of  some  of  your  colo- 
nies are  compelling  emigrants  from  the  United  States  to  bear  arms 
against  us. 

We  have  just  turned  to  M'Culloch's  Dictionary  of  commerce  to 
ascertain  how  far  the  American  Government  were  borne  out  in  their 
assertion,  respecting  the  naturalization  of  foreign  seamen  by  the 
British  law,  and  there  we  find,  page  1011,  that  among  other  means 
of  naturalization,  a  foreigner  who  has  "  served  on  board  his  Ma- 
jesty's ships  of  war,  in  time  of  war,  for  the  space  of  three  years,  be- 
comes a  British  seaman.  "  But  his  Majesty  may,  by  proclama 
tion  during  war,  declare  that  foreigners,  who  have  served  two  years 
in  the  royal  navy  during  such  war,  shall  be  deemed  as  British 
seamen." 

The  act  of  Congress,  respecting  the  employment  of  seamen  in 
the  American  service  provides,  that  no  person  shall  be  employed 
in  the  public  or  private  vessels  of  the  United  States,  who  is  not  a 
native  born  or  naturalized  citizen.  Another  act  on  the  subject 
of  naturalization  provides,  that  "no  person  can  become  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  who  shall  not,  for  the  continual  term  of  five 
years  next  preceding  his  admission,  have  resided  within  the  Uni- 
ted States,  without  being  at  any  time  during  the  said  five  years, 
out  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States."  In  the  one  country  a 
foreigner  can  enter  into  the  marine  service,  without  the  probation 
of  a  moment ;  and  after  serving  three  years,  he  becomes  ipso  facto 
a  British  seaman.  Into  the  marine  service  of  the  other,  no  one 
but  a  native  can  enter,  till  he  shall  have  actually  lived  five  years 
in  the  country,  without  departing  from  it 

In  the  whole  history  of  human  inconsistencies,  few  chapters  can 
be  found  more  striking  than  this.  But  the  United  States  were 


,  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  145 

anxious  to  avoid  a  war  with  Great  Britain.  They  were  willing  to 
concede  much  to  avert  this  extremity.  They  exhausted  the  cata- 
logue of  arguments  and  of  offers.  Thus  speaks  the  President  of 
the  United  States  in  his  message  of  June  13th  1812,  recommend- 
ing war,  "  this  practice,"  that  of  impressment,  "  is  so  far  from  affect- 
ing British  subjects  alone,  that  under  pretence  of  searching  for 
these,  thousands  of  American  citizens,  under  the  safeguard  of  pub- 
lic law,  and  of  their  natural  flag,  have  been  torn  from  their  coun- 
try, and  from  everything  dear  to  them,  have  been  dragged  on  board 
the  ships  of  war  of  a  foreign  nation,  and  exposed,  under  the  seve- 
rities of  their  discipline,  to  be  exiled  to  the  most  distant  and  dead- 
ly regions,  to  risk  their  lives  in  the  battles  of  their  oppressors,  and 
to  be  the  melancholy  instruments  of  taking  away  the  lives  of  their 
own  brethren." 

Against  this  crying  enormity,  which  Great  Britain  would  be  so 
prompt  to  avenge,  if  committed  against  herself,  the  United  States 
have  in  vain  exhausted  remonstrances  and  expostulations  ;  and 
that  no  doubt  might  be  wanting  of  their  conciliatory  disposition, 
and  no  pretext  left  for  a  continuance  of  the  practice,  the  British 
government  was  formally  assured  of  the  readiness  of  the  United 
States  to  enter  into  an  arrangement,  such  as  could  not  be  rejected, 
if  the  recovery  of  British  subjects  were  the  real  and  sole  object. 
The  communication  passed  without  effect." 

We  return  to  the  point  maintained  by  the  American  govern- 
ment, in  the  correspondence  to  which  we  have  referred.  Inde- 
pendently, said  they,  of  these  obvious  considerations  (the  same  we 
have  already  presented)  there  is  another,  which  covers  the  whole 
question.  Your  right,  by  your  own  confession,  is  not  an  absolute 
one.  It  yields  to  our  right  of  sovereignty.  You  do  not  claim  to 
come  upon  our  soil,  and  there  to  seize  your  sailors.  Where  do 
you  find  the  right  to  seize  them  in  our  ships,  covered  by  our  flag, 
which  is  as  exclusive  of  your  jurisdiction,  except  in  certain  pres- 
cribed cases  in  time,  as  the  territory  of  the  United  States  ?  If 
you  suffer  your  citizens  to  escape,  and  to  come  under  our  sove- 
reignty, your  claim  to  their  services  must  yield  to  our  superior 
claim  to  national  immunity.  Like  many  other  rights  or  preten- 
sions in  society,  if  this  cannot  be  exercised,  without  violating  the 
privileges  of  another  party,  it  must  be  abandoned. 

The  British  jurists  of  that  day,  who  administered,  and  often 
made  the  maritime  law,  were  endowed  with  sufficient  subtlety  to 
discover  new  principles  to  suit  new  circumstances,  and  her  states- 
men had  sufficient  firmness  to  adopt  and  maintain  them.  But  we 
doubt,  if  in  the  whole  progress  of  that  warfare,  between  orders  in 
council  and  imperial  decrees,  which  so  long  vexed  neutral  com- 
merce, and  outraged  the  common  sense  of  mankind,  a  bolder  inva- 
sion was  made  into  the  regions  of  maritime  metaphysics,  than  in 
the  promulgation  of  that  doctrine,  which  was  to  reconcile  the  ex- 
ercise of  this  right  of  impressment,  with  those  principles  of  public 
law,  that  had  been  too  long  and  too  clearly  established  to  be  direct- 

10 


146  LIFE    OF   GENERAL   CASS.  « 

ly  controverted.  Who  was  the  discoverer  of  this,  then  terra  z'n- 
cognita  we  know  not ;  but  its  revelation  was  announced  by  great 
authority  and  from  a  high  place.  It  is  to  be  found  in  a  declara- 
tion of  the  Prince  Regent  of  Great  Britain,  dated  July  9th  1813, 
made  in  answer  to  the  manifesto  of  the  American  government,  re- 
capitulating the  causes,  which  had  driven  the  United  States  to  war. 
And  it  is  there  gravely  maintained  that  "  His  Royal  Highness  can 
never  admit,  that  in  the  exercise  of  the  undoubted  and  hitherto  un- 
disputed right  of  searching  neutral  merchant  vessels  in  time  of 
war  (alluding  to  the  ordinary  right  of  search,  recognized  by  the 
law  of  nations)  the  impressment  of  British  seamen,  when  found 
therein,  can  be  deemed  any  violation  of  a  neutral  flag.  Neither 
can  he  (the  Prince  Regent)  admit,  that  the  taking  such  seamen 
from  on  board  such  vessels  can  be  considered  by  any  neutral  state, 
as  a  hostile  measure,  or  a  justifiable  cause  of  war." 

And  thus  speaks  the  executive  of  England.  The  right  to  enter 
an  American  ship  for  the  purpose  of  impressment  is  clearly  dis- 
claimed ;  but  having  entered  for  a  lawful  purpose,  then  the  board- 
ing officer  has  the  right  to  take  any  British  subjects  he  may  find  ; 
that  is  to  say,  to  seize  every  American  sailor,  and  place  him  upon 
the  deck  of  a  British  cruiser.  We  shall  not  go  back  to  the  histo- 
ry of  the  monstrous  abuses,  to  which  this  pretension  gave  birth, 
•and  which  drove  the  United  States  to  war.  They  would  have  be- 
come a  by-word  among  nations,  had  they  tamely  submitted  to  see 
their  seamen  dragged  into  this  worst  of  slavery.  But  it  is  well, 
with  regard  to  the  future,  to  investigate  the  claims  of  the  past.  A 
seaman,  on  board  an  American  ship,  is  protected  by  his  national 
flag.  No  British  officer  can  enter,  for  the  purpose  of  tearing  him 
from  this  natural  asylum.  But  having  entered  for  one  object,  he 
may  execute  another.  Certain  belligerent  rights  are  given  to  him, 
and  he  may  board  all  vessels  upon  the  great  highway  of  nations, 
in  order  to  enforce  them.  And  having  done,  or  affected  to  do  this, 
he  may  then  turn  round,  and  pervert  his  right  of  entry  to  a  totally 
different  object.  He  may  violate  the  sovereignty  of  the  neutral 
power,  by  giving  effect,  not  to  the  code  of  international  law,  but 
to  the  mere  municipal  regulations  of  his  own  country ;  and  under, 
the  most  arbitrary  and  offensive  circumstances.  No,  all  this  is 
but  the  sophistry  of  power,  determined  to  attain  its  object,  and 
seeking  to  justify  itself.  There  is  no  such  right  of  conversion. 
No  just  claim  to  demand  one  thing,  and  to  do  another.  The  whole 
pretension  shoc'ks  the  common  sense  of  the  world. 

Argument  would  be  lost  in  its  refutation.  The  analogy  of  the 
English  law  would  lead  the  British  government  to  a  far  different 
conclusion.  In  England,  if  a  person  has  a  right  of  entry  for  one 
purpose,  and  perverts  it  to  another,  he  renders  himself  a  trespasser 
ab  initio.  He  finds  convertible  justification,  by  which  his  real 
object  may  be  attained,  while  he  covers  himself  with  a  professed 
one. 

According  to  this  right  of  conversion,  when  ihe  British  forces 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  147 

•entered  the' state  of  New  York  to  burn  the  Caroline,  having  got 
within  the  American  territory,  for 'what  they  contended  to  be  a 
lawful  purpose,  they  might  have  then  violated  the  national  sove- 
reignty, and  seized  all  the  persons  they  found,  who  had  been  born 
British  subjects,  and  transported  them  into  Canada.  And  why 
not  have  seized  their  American  debtors,  if  they  had  any,  or  done 
any  other  act,  which  they  might  lawfully  do  at  home,  as  they  claim 
to  enforce  their  municipal  laws  upon  the  vessels  of  the  United 
States.  This  claim  can  only  be  supported  upon  the  ground,  that, 
these  laws  ride  over  those  of  the  United  States,  wherever  British 
power  plants  itself;  even  for  the  shortest  period  and  for  whatever 
purpose. 

But  another  high  authority,  the  Times,  has  recently  laid  down 
the  same  doctrine,  more  distinctly  indeed,  and  quite  ex  cathedra, 
showing  how  rapidly  these  maritime  pretensions  gather  strength 
from  time  and  use.  We  cannot,  at  this  moment,  refer  to  the  num- 
ber which  contains  this  dictum,  but  it  must  have  been  that  of  the 
sixth  or  seventh  of  January,  and  will  be  found  in  Galignani's  Mes- 
senger of  the  tenth  of  January,  extracted  from  the  London  Journal. 
After  laying  down  the  right  of  search  for  enemy's  property  and 
articles  contraband  of  war,  the  Times  continues,  "  It  is  also,  we  be- 
lieve, confessed,  that  if  in  the  course  of  search,  we  find  the  goods 
and  persons  of  our  enemies,  such  goods  and  persons  may  be  made 
lawful  prizes  and  prisoners ;  the  law,  however,  being  punctillious 
enough  to  require  in  the  former  instance,  that  the  captors  shall 
pay  freight  to  the  neutral  carriers,  of  whose  cargo  they  possess 
themselves.  Now,  during  our  wars  with  France,  we  exercised  this 
uncontested  and  incontestable  right  against  America  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  world,  with  this  very  unnatural  corollary,  (!)  that  as  we 
might  take  the  persons  of  the  king's  enemies  (a  right  given  by  the 
law  of  nations)  we  might  take  the  persons  of  the  king's  subjects, 
who  had  deserted  their  duty  (meaning,  thereby,  all  speaking  the 
English  language)  and  were  serving  in  foreign  ships,  (a  right,  to- 
tally unknown  to,  and  unrecognised  by  the  law  of  nations.)  We 
shall  continue  our  quotations  from  the  Times,  because  nothing,  we 
could  say,  would  more  forcibly  describe  the  intolerable  abuses  of 
this  pretension,  and  because,  from  the  position  and  character  of 
that  journal,  we  have  the  best  assurance,  that  those  abuses  are  not 
exaggerated. 

"  In  the  practical  enforcement,  however,  of  this  right  or  wrong, 
for  on  that  point  it  is  not  now  necessary  to  pronounce,  the  search- 
ing party  being,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  strongest,  and 
moreover,  ordinarily  speaking,  persons  of  summary  habits,  were 
apt  to  be  somewhat  arbitrary  in  their  judgments  of  who  was  Am- 
erican and  who  was  English;  '  when  they  doubted  they  took  the 
trick,'  at  least,  so  thought  and  said  the  Americans,  and  any  one 
may  remember,  that,  once  taken  and  lodged  in  an  English  man  of 
war,  by  right  or  by  wrong,  it  was  not  a  very  easy  matter  to  get  out 
of  it ;  and  accordingly  the  American  had  to  stay,  with  just  as  good 


148  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

a  chance  of  being  cut  off  by  a  French  cannon  ball,  before  he  could 
get  his  right  again,  as  any  of  his  English  fellow  sailors."  We  par- 
don the  frivolty  of  manner,  with  which  this  grave  subject  is  treated, 
in  consideration  of  the  frankness  of  the  journal,  in  the  open  avowal 
of  a  principle  which  cannot  fail  to  excite  general  reprobation,  now 
the  unnatural  excitement  of  war  has  passed  away. 

A  nation,  which  should  tamely  submit  to  such  pretensions,  would 
merit,  as  it  would  surely  receive,  the  contumely  of  the  world. 

The  Times  adds,  "that  this  dispute  (of  impressment)  now  sleeps, 
though  it  will  have  to  be  revived,  at  latest,  on  the  next  occasion, 
when  we  find  ourselves  invested  by  a  war  with  the  right,  of  which 
it  is  the  consequence ;  and  indeed,  it  might  be  raised  on  the  contem- 
plated treaty,  giving  a  mutual  right  of  search  for  the  prevention 
of  the  slave  trade,  unless  provided  for,  as  it  easily  might  and  prob- 
ably would  be  by  special  articles." 

But  here  is  the  true  key  to  much  of  the  reluctance  of  the  Am- 
erican government  to  become  a  party  to  an  arrangement,  which 
shall  add  to  the  category  of  the  right  of  search ;  whether  it  is 
likewise  the  key  to  the  pertinacity,  with  which  the  British  govern- 
ment presses  this  matter,  we  do  not  presume  to  judge.  Until  now, 
the  right  of  search  has  been  a  belligerent  right,  belonging  only  to 
a  state  of  war  *  *  *  Here  is  the  first  formal  claim  to  exer- 
cise it  in  time  of  peace.  Impressment,  is  a  municipal  right,  de- 
pending, say  the  English  jurists,  upon  the  mutual  relation  of  alle- 
giance and  protection,  and  l\ie  duties  which  these  reciprocally  cre- 
ate. Ordinarily,  it  is  exercised  in  time  of  war,  only,  but  the  gov- 
ernment might  authorise  its  exercise  at  all  times,  as  the  conscrip- 
tion is  operative,  as  well  in  peace  as  war ;  and  surely,  many  cases 
may  occur,  where  its  exercise  might  be  necessary  to  man  a  fleet, 
before  hostilities  were  actually  declared,  but  while  they  were  con- 
sidered impending.  Under  such  circumstances,  this  new  right  of 
search,  bringing  a  British  boarding  officer  legally  on  board  an  Am- 
erican ship,  for  a  defined  object,  would  enable  him  very  conven- 
iently, after  satisfying  himself  she  neither  sought  nor  contained 
slaves,  to  seize  her  crew  and  reduce  them  to  a  worse  than  African 
bondage;  because,  to  all  their  other  miseries  might  be  added,  the 
obligation  to  fight  against  the  flag  of  their  own  country. 

The  Scotsman  is  not  less  frank  than  the  Times;  "the 
object  of  the  one."  says  the  former  journal,  alluding  to  the  right  of 
search  as  heretofore  practiced,  "  was  to  discover  British  sailors  in 
American  vessels,  and  practically  gave  our  naval  officers  a  power 
to  impress  seamen  from  the  ships  of  another  state." 

So,  having  already  maintained,  under  various  vicissitudes,  the 
right  to  seize  American  sailors,  in  time  of  war,  as  a  consequence 
of  her  belligerent  right  of  search,  if  the  present  pretension  is 
established,  Great  Britain  can  then  seize  them  in  time  of  peace,  as 
a  consequence  of  her  pacific  right  of  search,  called  visitation,  and 
thus  the  marine  of  the  United  States  will  be  an  inexhaustible  foun- 
tain, whence  in  peace  and  war,  she  can  seek  her  force. 


UFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  149 

But  it  may  be  said,  and  indeed  the  suggestion  as  we  have  seen, 
is  in  the  Times,  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  American  govern- 
ment to  frame  a  convention,  which  shall  exclude  this  process  of 
impressment,  and  therefore  fear  of  its  occurrence  ought  not  to 
prevent  the  adoption  of  this  check  to  an  odious  traffic.  To  this 
suggestion  the  answer  is  easy.  The  United  States  can  enter  into 
no  stipulation,  which  can  be  tortured  into  a  recognition  of  this 
doctrine  of  impressment.  They  cannot  provide  for  its  restriction 
nor  regulation.  They  can  only  accept  a  general  declaration  from 
the  British  government,  that  their  flag  shall  protect  their  seamen, 
at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances ;  and  there  is  little  rea- 
son to  hope,  that  the  counsels  of  justice  will  so  far  prevail  over 
those  of  interest,  as  to  lead  to  such  a  measure. 

Were  it  however  adopted  by  the  British  government,  as  the  reg- 
ulation of  its  .future  conduct,  it  would  be  hailed  in  the  United 
States  as  the  harbinger  of  a  brighter  day  ;  as  the  cause  and  the 
precursor  of  an  indefinite  peace,  between  two  nations,  having  so 
many  reasons  for  union  and  so  few  for  separation. 

In  such  an  event,  there  would  be  little  hazard  in  predicting, 
that  a  satisfactory  arrangement  might  soon  be  made,  by  which  the 
fullest  co-operation  of  the  United  States  would  be  obtained  to- 
wards the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade.  The  great  difficulty 
being  removed,  a  mutual  spirit  of  conciliation  would  soon  do  the 
rest.  But  till  then,  the  United  States  cannot,  in  any  arrange- 
ment giving  reciprocally  the  right  of  search,  with  a  professed  view- 
to  the  extinction  of  the  slave  trade,  admit  a  stipulation,  that  the 
doctrine  of  constructive  entrance  should  not  apply  and  that  their 
seamen  should  be  safe  from  seizure.  Such  a  stipulation  would 
soon  be  construed  into  an  admission  of  this  claim,  under  other 
circumstances,  and  to  this,  the  American  government  and  people 
will  never  submit.  With  them,  it  is  a  question  of  life  and  death. 
They  went  to  war  to  oppose  it,  thirty  years  ago,  when  compara- 
tively young  and  weak.  And  now,  after  having  advanced  in  all 
the  elements  of  power  with  a  rapidity  unknown  in  human  history, 
they  will  not  be  wanting  to  their  duties  and  honor  in  the  day  of 
trial.  An  American,  at  home  or  in  Europe,  may  safely  predict, 
that  the  first  man  impressed  from  a  ship  of  his  country,  and  de- 
tained, with  an  avowal  of  the  right  by  order  of  the  British  govern- 
ment, will  be  the  signal  of  war.  A  war  too,  which  will  be  long, 
bitter  and  accompanied,  it  may  be,  with  many  vicissitudes.  For 
no  citizen  of  the  United  States  can  shut  his  eyes  to  the  power  of 
Great  Britain,  nor  to  the  gallantry  of  her  fleets  and  armies.  But 
twice  the  Republic  has  come  out  honorably  from  a-similar  contest, 
and  with  a  just  cause  she  would  again  hope  for  success.  At  any 
rate,  she  would  try. 

In  the  preceding  discussion,  we  have  spoken  generally  of  the 
right  of  .search,  without  being  led  aside  by  any  distinction,  found- 
ed upon  the  purposes,  real  or  avowed,  of  those  who  exercise  it. 
We  have  done  so,  because  so  far  as  regards  the  most  obnoxious 


150  LIFE   OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

consequences  to  the  United  States,  the  liability  of  their  seamen  to 
impressment,  it  is  obvious,  and  so  indeed  says  the  Times,  that  the 
exercise  of  this  pretension,  though  not  forming  a  just  cause  of 
entry,  yet  being  its 'necessary  result,  it  is  perfectly  immaterial,  in 
its  practical  operation,  whether  the  Naval  Judge,  "  clothed  with  a 
little  brief  authority  "  but  deciding  summarily  upon  human  liber- 
ty, boards  the  peaceful  trader  to  ascertain  her  national  character, 
or  to  enquire  into  the  objects  of  her  voyage.  But  besides  this 
fundamental  objection,  it  is  evident,  that  no  vessel  can  be  liable 
to  examination  without  some  hinderance.  That  in  all  such  cases, 
there  may  be  gross  abuses,  and  that  ill  many,  these  abuses  will 
occur.  The  boarding  officer  will  judge  if  .her  papers  are  regular 
or  if  they  are  simulated ;  and  if  the  accidents  of  the  voyage  and 
nature  and  appearance  of  the  cargo  and  equipment  confirm  these 
papers  or  render  them  suspicious.  Here  is  latitude  enough  for 
arbitrary  vexation,  and  for  interruptions,  which  ma/  drive  an  oth- 
erwise profitable  commerce  into  less  troubled  channels.  A  nd  these 
considerations  are  abundantly  powerful  to  justify  the  United 
States  in  refusing  their  consent,  both  to  the  conventional  arrange- 
ment proposed  for  the  right  of  search,  to  ascertain  the  objects  of 
the  voyage,  and  to  the  new  doctrine,  now  first  promulgated,  of  a 
right  of  search  to  ascertain,  if  the  proofs  of  the  vessel's  nationali- 
ty are  sufficient  to  justify  her  title  to  the  flag  she  bears. 

We  cannot  better  describe  the  little  difference,  in  its  practicaf 
operation,  which  would  be  found  between  the  right  of  search  to 
ascertain  the  true  character  of  a  vessel,  and  the  right  of  search  to 
ascertain  the  object  of  her  voyage,  than  we  find  it  done  to  our 
hands  in  the  London  Sun.  One  may  be  called  a  search  and  the 
other  a  visit,  but  both  will  be  found  equally  vexations  visitations. 
The  passage  of  the  Sun  is  striking,  and  we  shall  quote  it : 

"The  Americans  may  very  properly  object  to  our  right  of  search, 
and  may  still  have  a  great  inclination  to  suppress  the  slave  trade  \ 
but  of  the  two  evils,  we  have  no  doubt,  but  the  Americans  would 
prefer  the  eternal  existence  of  the  slave  trade,  to  allowing  their 
ships  to  be  overhauled  by  our  men  of  war.  If  they  sanction  the 
examination,  for  the  mere  purpose  of  ascertaining,  if  a  vessel 
bearing  the  American  flag  is  bona  Jidc  an  American  vessel,  they 
sanction  a  rigid  examination  of  the  vessel  herself.  The  papers 
may  be  simulated.  How  is  that  to  be  proved  ?  By  examining  the 
crew ;  by  ascertaining,  that  the  cargo  of  the  vessel  corresponds 
to  the  manifest ;  by  tracing  her  route  in  the  log  book ;  in  short 
by  subjecting  her  to  a  complete  search.  If  that  be  not  done,  pa- 
pers will  be  at  once  produced,  to  correspond  to  the  flag,  and  mere- 
ly to  prove  that  they  do  correspond,  will  be  of  no  use  whatever. 
The  Americans  are  well  aware  of  the  insults  and  injuries  they 
would  subject  themselves  to,  by  admitting  this  claim  to  visit  their 
ships,  and  the  Morning  Chronicle  does  them  egregious  injustice, 
when  it  represents  their  resistance  to  that  claim  as  grounded  in  un- 
righteousness." 


LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS.  151 

The  correspondence,  with  the  British  Secretaries  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  just  published  by  the  American  government,  comes 
marvellously  in  support  of  the  remarks  of  the  Sun,  though  received 
since  those  remarks  were   written.     It  gives  to  them  almost  the 
character  of  prophecy.     The  search  of  five  American  vessels  is 
complained  of  by  the  American  minister,  the  Douglass,  the  lago, 
the  Hero,  the  Mary  and  the  Susan.     And  in  four  of  these  cases, 
serious  complaints  are  also  made,  that  the  crews  were  treated  with 
indignity,  and  the  cargoes  overhauled  and  injured,  and  various  ar- 
ticles taken  away.     As  Lord  Palmerston  in  his  answer  to  Mr.  Ste- 
venson gives  a  summary  of  the  complaints  of  that  gentleman,  in 
the  case  of  one  of  these  vessels,  we  shall  quote  the  passage,  as  an 
illustration  of  the  practical  effects  of  this  new  claim,  not  having, 
unfortunately,  Mr.  Stevenson's  letter  on  this  subject,  within  reach. 
And  we  embrace  with  pleasure  this  opportunity  of  tendering  our 
thanks  to  that  able  American  Representative  for  the  spirit,  ability 
and  dignity  with  which  he  maintained  the  rights  of  his  country, 
during  the  arduous  correspondence  he  carried  on  with  Lord  Pal- 
merston and  Lord  Aberdeen.     But  to  the  summary.     "In  these 
two  communications  from  Mr.  Stevenson,"  says  Lord  Palmerston, 
"  it  is  stated,  that  on  the  21st  of  October  1839,  Lieut.  Seagram 
boarded  the  Douglass,  while  she  was  pursuing  her  voyage,  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  examined  the  ship's  papers,  and  the  passengers' 
passports,  broke  open  the  hatches,  hauled  down  the  American  flag, 
and  seized  the  vessel  as  a  slaver;  that  he  kept  possesssion  of  her 
during  eight  days ;  namely,  from  the  21  st  of  October,  to  the  29th  of 
the  same  month ;  that  the  officers   and  men  of  the  Douglass  De- 
came  ill  from  exposure  to  the  sun,  and  that  in  consequence,  three 
of  them  died,  and  the  Captain  is  yet  in  ill  health."     It  appears  by 
another  letter  from  Lord  Palmerston,  that  the  boarding  crew  was 
charged  with  consuming  the  stores  and  provisions  of  the  Douglass. 
And  in  a  third  letter  from  Lord   Palmerston,  which  relates  to 
the  Mary,  the  character   of  the  occurrences  on  board,    may  be 
judged  by  this  remark,  "  proceedings  which,   in  Mr.  Stevenson's 
opinion,   seem  to  want  nothing  to  give  them  the  character  of  a 
most  flagrant  and  daring  outrage,    and   very  little,  if  anything,  to 
sink  them  into  an  act  of  open   and  direct  piracy." 

Lord  Palmerston  then  proceeds  to  justify  or  deny  all  these  char- 
ges, and  there  they  sleep  the  sleep  of  death. 

As  to  the  ill  treatment  of  the  crews,  and  the  free  use  of  the  pro- 
visions and  stores  of  the  vessels,  and  frequently  the  subtraction  of 
more  valuable  articles  (in  one  of  these  cases'  money,  a  chronom- 
eter and  a  watch  are  said  to  have  disappeared)  all  this  is  but  an 
old  story  in  the  history  of  vessels,  boarding  and  boarded  as  we 
have  already  had  occasion  to  observe.  How  indeed  can  it  be  oth- 
erwise in  the  constitution  of  human  nature,  and  in  the  position  of 
the  parties  ?  There  is  no  check  for  the  present,  no  responsibility 
for  the  future.  The  most  rigorous  discipline  and  the  best  dispo- 
sition could  not  prevent  abuse,  where  a  party  of  sailors  enter  the 


152  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

vessel  of  another  nation,  in  fact  as  masters ;  parade  the  crew,  ex- 
amine the  papers,  break  up  the  hatches,  overhaul  the  cargo,  and 
feel  themselve  at  free  quarters,  almost  in  an  enemy's  country. 
And  when  the  disposition  of  the  officers  is  bad,  and  the  discipline 
lax,  all  these  evils  are  fearfully  augmented.  Jn  the  catalogue  of 
naval  wrongs,  endured  by  the  United  States,  during  the  long  pe- 
riod of  belligerent  opression,  to  which  we  have  referred,  the  inju- 
ries and  abuses  inflicted  by  boarding  vessels  figure  in  the  first  rank. 
What  will  they  be  hereafter,  when  this  doctrine  of  universal  search, 
under  the  guise  of  an  inquiry  into  the  nationality  of  vessels,  be- 
comes consecrated  by  time  and  usage,  and  is  exercised,  as  well  in 
peace  as  in  war? 

But  after  all,  what  is  this  distinction,  which  Lord  Palmerston 
and  Lord  Aberdeen  have  discovered,  and  which  is  to  give  to  Brit- 
ish officers  the  right,  in  a  time  of  profound  peace,  to  enter  and 
search  American  ships?  We  are  distinctly  told  by  both  these 
statesmen,  in  their  correspondence  with  the  American  minister, 
that  they  do  not  assert  this  claim  of  search,  with  a  view  to  ascer- 
tain the  objects  of  a  voyage,  and  to  seize  the  vessel,  if  found  en- 
gaged in  the  slave  trade.  Both  admit  in  terms,  that  her  American 
character  being  once  established,  her  cargo,  whether  men  or  mer- 
chandize, is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  armed  cruiser  ;  and  that  she 
must  be  permitted  to  prosecute  her  voyage,  however  nefarious  its 
object  may  be. 

But  both  equally  contend,  that  the  flag  at  the  mast  head,  or  the 
piece  of  bunting,  as  Lord  Palmerston  rather  contemptuously  styles 
this  emblem  of  sovereignty,  furnishes  no  evidence  of  national 
character,  and  shall  furnish  no  protection  against  the  entrance  ot 
British  force.  That  they  have  a  right  to  board  all  vessels  upon 
the  ocean,  examine  their  papers,  and  satisfy  themselves  respecting 
their  nationality.  Lord  Aberdeen,  indeed,  consoles  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  by  the  assurance,  that  their  vessels  are 
not  entered  as  their  vessels.  "  Nor  is  it  as  American,  that  such 
vessels  are  ever  visited."  Poor  consolation  this.  If  Tom  is 
knocked  down  in  the  streets,  it  is  little  comfort  to  him  to  be  told.  1 
did  not  knock  you  down  as  Tom,  I  knocked  you  down  as  Jack. 
The  answer  to  all  such  pretensions  is  very  simple,  and  cannot 
have  escaped  the  sagacity  of  the  British  statesmen  who  have  re- 
sorted to  this  strange  process  of  justification.  You  commit  the 
act  at  your  own  hazard.  If  you  enter  a  ship  or  knock  down  ;i 
man,  believing  the  ship  or  man  is  not  what  appearances  indicate, 
and  your  suspicions  being  correct,  if  the  law,  international  in  one 
case,  national  in  the  other,  gives  you  the  right  to  use  this  violence, 
then  you  may  avow  the  act,  and  justify  it.  But  if  you  err  in  these 
premises,  you  are  responsible  for  the  consequences. 

The  municipal  law  of  every  country  is  filled  with  illustrations 
of  this  principle.  It  is  common  sense,  applied  to  the  affairs  of 
men  in  their  social  relations,  as  members  of  an  organized  commu- 
nity. Applied  to  the  affairs  of  nations,  in  their  commercial  inter- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  153 

•course  with  one  another,  upon  the  ocean,  it  is  the  same  common 
sense,  then  called  public  law.  If  a  father  or  master  meet  his  son 
or  servant,  he  has  a  right  to  examine  him,  to  ascertain  if  he  is  vio- 
lating his  orders.  This  we  may  call  the  visitation  of  persons. 
The  right  cannot  be  denied.  Now,  the  son  or  servant  may  dis- 
guise himself,  and  assume  the  appearance  and  dress  of  the  son  or 
servant  of  a  neighbor,  it  may  be  his  livery.  But  does  this  possi- 
bility of  abuse  give  to  the  superior  the  right  to  stop  in  the  streets 
all  persons  he  may  choose  to  suspect,  with  or  without  cause,  to  be 
his  son  or  servant  1  and  not  even,  violating  the  law  of  the  country, 
but  his  own  domestic  law  !  Certainly  not.  If  he  examine  forci- 
bly, he  does  so  at  his  peril.  Borne  out  by  the  result,  he  is  but  in 
the  exercise  of  his  right.  Deceived,  he  is  a  trespasser  and  respon- 
sible for  his  conduct. 

We  consider  it  unnecessary  to  pursue  these  illustrations  farther. 
It  would  be  but  a  work  of  supererogation. 

What  then  is  the  process,  by  which  this  new  principle  is  attemp- 
ted to  be  justified  and  maintained?  Lord  Palmerston  thus  lays 
down  the  doctrine,  which  is  henceforth  to  become  a  part  of  the 
great  maritime  law.  The  United  States  flag  or  bunting,  as  his 
lordship  calls  it,  shall  exempt  no  vessel  (whether  American  or  not) 
from  search,  except  "when  that  vessel  is  provided  with  papers,  en- 
titling her  to  wear  that  flag,  and  proving  her  to  be  United  States 
property,  and  navigated  according  to  law."  And  with  a  view  to 
ascertain  if  she  is  entitled  to  the  flag  she  bears,  and  if  she  is  sail- 
ing according  to  law,  a  right  of  entry  is  claimed  for  every  British 
cruiser  into  every  American  vessel,  wherever  they  may  meet.  Anft 
this  right  of  entry  is  called  not  a  search,  but  a  visit. 

Lord  Palmerston,  it  will  be  remarked,  lays  down  as  a  part  of  the 
principle,  that  the  vessel  must  be  sailing  according  to  laic,  that 
is,  for  a  purpose  not  prohibited  by  law,  and  Lord  Aberdeen,  who 
shows  more  regard  for  bunting  than  Lord  Palmerston,  concedes, 
that,  "doubtless  the  flag  is  prima  facia  evidence  of  the  nationality 
of  the  vessel."  A  strange  designation  this,  by  the  by,  for  a  na- 
tional pavillion,  and  we  had  almost  said  a  profane  one,  to  be  appli- 
ed by  an  English  statesman,  the  minister  of  a  country  whose  me- 
teor flag  is  associated  with  so  many  glorious  recollections,  and 
apostrophised  in  so  much  glorious  poetry  And  after  all,  this  em- 
blem of  sovereignty  and  accompaniment  of  victory  is  but  a  piece 
of  bunting  !  Alas !  for  the  prestige  of  great  names,  when  redu- 
ced to  this  matter  of  fact  standard! 

It  will  not  be  denied,  that  this  is  the  first  solemn  occasion,  upon 
which  this  pretension  has  been  put  forth  to  the  world.  No  ele- 
mentary writer  has  advanced- it ;  no  jurist  has  asserted  it ;  no  judge 
has  ruled  it.  The  universal  exemption  of  all  vessels  in  time  of 
peace,  from  "search  or  visitation,"  the  very  words,  as  we  have  seen 
of  Lord  Stowell,  has  heretofore  been  an  uncontested  and  incontes- 
table principle  of  the  law  of  nations ;  and  he  added  the  authority 
of  his  decision  to  the  opinions  of  his  predecessors,  the  commenta- 


154  LIFE   OF   GENERAL    CASS. 

tors  upon  the  great  code  of  maritime  law.  When  therefore  the 
two  British  statesmen,  who  have  assumed,  or  upon  whom  has  fallen, 
the  task  of  interpolating  this  new  principle  into  that  code,  or  as  the 
Times  would  express  it,  who  are  uwrking  the  way  for  the  new  law, 
undertake  to  justify  this  pretension,  by  argument,  preparatory  to 
its  being  maintained  by  force,  we  may  fairly  call  upon  them  to  es- 
tablish their  position  by  undeniable  proofs,  or  by  the  clearest  illus- 
trations. The  burthen  of  discussion  is  cast  upon  them ;  while 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  at  the  same  time  judges  and  parties,  are 
watching  the  progress  of  the  controversy,  anxious,  it  may  be,  to 
see,  if  this  new  step,  as  the  Times  may  well  term  it,  is  to  be 
attended  with  a  new  struggle,  and  if  both  are  to  be  gained,  as  so 
many  have  been  gained  before  them. 

In  carefully  analyzing  the  correspondence,  the  arguments  in 
support  of  this  claim  may  be  briefly  summed  up  in  these.  With- 
out it,  flags  may  be  sometimes  abused.  Without  it,  English  crui- 
sers may  sometimes  be  prevented  from  boarding  their  own  vessels, 
and  thus  the  municipal  laws  of  England  may  be  violated.  With- 
out it,  the  treaty  stipulations  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade 
cannot  be  so  well  executed,  as  with  it.  And  the  traditions  of  the 
British  navy,  and  Lord  Aberdeen  believes,  of  other  navies,  are  in 
favor  of  its  assertion.  This  is  a  brief  summary  of  the  defence  of 
this  measure. 

As  to  what  may  be  termed  the  quarter  deck  law,  we  shall  dismiss 
it  with  a  very  cursory  examination.  Mr.  Stevenson  calls  in  ques- 
tion the  exactitude  of  the  fact,  at  any  rate  to  the  extent,  to  which 
it  must  reach,  in  order  to  support  such  a  claim  as  this.  That  ves- 
sels may  have  been  overhauled  and  entered  in  time  of  peace,  under 
peculiar  circumstances,  we  do  not  doubt.  But  it  is  evident,  that 
this  practice  has  never  prevailed  in  any  considerable  degree,  most 
certainly  not  sufficiently  so,  to  render  it  authoritative,  as  otherwise 
it  would  have  given  rise  to  examination  and  consideration  among 
the  elementary  writers,  and  to  discussion  among  the  governments, 
which,  from  time  to  time,  must  have  been  affected  by  it.  No  trace 
of  this  appears,  and  the  conclusion  is  inevitable,  that  its  use  has 
never  been  established,  nor  its  abuse  sufficiently  prevalent  nor  se- 
rious, to  render  it  the  subject  of  diplomatic  intervention.  If  Great 
Britain  had,  as  she  has  not,  in  the  exercise  of  her  naval  strength, 
pushed  this  usage  beyond  the  point,  we  have  indicated,  certainly  it 
would  be  with  a  bad  grace,  she  could  claim,  that  her  own  violence 
should  be  written  down  in  the  law  of  nations,  and  constitute  the 
rule  for  their  future  government.  We  go  farther  ;  vessels  will  no 
doubt  be  hereafter  spoken  and  entered,  and  no  one  will  complain, 
because  no  indignity  will  be  intended,  nor  will  any  injury  be  done. 
Strictly  speaking,  a  trespass  may  be  committed,  but  the  matter 
will  pass  off,  without  exciting  the  least  sensation,  either  among  the 
parties  or  their  governments.  How  different  this  is,  from  a  claim 
to  enter  and  search  all  ships,  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places,  we 
leave  to  the  common  sense  of  mankind  to  judge.  We  say  in  all 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  155 

places,  because,  though  one-half  only  of  the  Atlantic  ocean  is  ta- 
booed (as  the  South  sea  islanders  express  it)  at  the  present  moment, 
yet  the  same  power,  which  has  laid  this  interdict  upon  a  part  ot 
one  of  the  mightiest  works  of  God,  may  extend  it,  as  soon  as  its 
interests  dictate,  from  pole  to  pole,  and  from  east  to  west.  If  that 
is  not  already  done,  it  is  not,  that  the  principle  is  not  sufficiently 
elastic  to  cover  such  a  space,  but  only  that  the  time  of  harvest  has 
not  yet  ceme.  We  are  aware  of  our  offence  against  the  canons  of 
criticism  in  the  metaphor,  but  we  may  be  pardoned  the  trespass, 
in  consequence  of  the  force  of  the  illustration.  With  respect  to 
the  abuse,  to  which  this  claim  of  immunity,  made  by  the  United 
States  for  their  vessels,  may  be  liable,  it  is  not  difficult  to  show 
how  greatly  it  has  been  exaggerated.  This  seems  to  be  the  favor- 
ite argument  of  Lord  Palmerston,  and  is  repeated,  under  a  some- 
what different  view,  by  Lord  Aberdeen.  Both  these  statesmen  ap- 
pear to  think,  that  the  United  States  claim  a  perfect  immunity  for 
all  vessels,  bearing  their  flag,  and  as  an  illustration  of  the  absurdity 
of  such  a  pretension,  Lord  Aberdeen  asks  Mr.  Stevenson,  if  he 
supposes  the  government  of  Great  Britain  would  permit  "  British 
vessels  and  British  capital  to  carry  on,  before  the  eyes  of  British 
officers,  this  detestable  traffic,  etc.,  by  hoisting  the  American  flag." 

This  conclusion  is  no  corrollary  from  the  premises  laid  down  by 
the  United  States.  They  advance  no  such  pretension.  It  is  the 
immunity  of  their  own  bonafide  vessels,  they  seek  to  secure. 
They  do  not  deny  to  the  cruisers  of  all  the  powers  of  the  earth, 
the  right  to  enter  and  search  each  the  vessels  of  their  own  coun- 
try, and  of  every  other  country,  which  may  concede  the  privilege  ; 
though  the  flag  of  the  United  States  may  fly  at  all  their  mast  heads. 
But  they  do  deny  the  right  of  any  such  cruiser  to  search  their  ves- 
sels, and  here  lies  the  root  of  the  whole  matter.  Certainly,  if  a 
British  or  French  frigate  encounters  a  vessel  at  sea,  which  is  most 
assuredly  a  British  or  a  French  vessel,  endeavoring  to  conceal  her 
nationality,  under  the  American  flag,  such  frigate  is  justified  in 
boarding  her,  and  in  disposing  of  her,  as  the  laws  of  her  country 
may  provide.  But  this  is  done  at  the  risk  of  the  boarding  ship. 
If  the  result  proves,  that  the  suspicion  was  well  founded,  then  the 
commanding  officer  will  be  scathless.  He  will  have  done  his  duty 
to  his  own  government,  and  no  injury  to  another.  But  if  he  has 
suffered  himself  to  be  deceived,  then  he  has  violated  the  rights  of 
a  foreign  power,  and  his  sovereign  must  be  responsible  for  the  con- 
sequences. He  may  still  have  done  his  duty  to  his  own  govern- 
ment. That  will  depend  upon  the  strength  of  the  evidence,  upon 
which  he  acted.  But  he  has  committed  an  injury  against  another, 
and  for  that  injury,  atonement  may  be  demanded.  But  here  we 
come  to  the  practical  operation  of  these  general  principles,  and  it 
is  that  branch  of  the  subject  alone,  which  is  worthy  serious  consi- 
deration. 

The  two  British  statesmen  attempt  to  support  their  position  by 
pushing  principles  to  their  extremes.  This  may  do  in  the  schools, 


156  LIFE    OF    GENERAL   CASS. 

but  its  place  is  not  in  active  life,  and  least  of  all  in  the  affairs  of 
nations.     A  British  officer  meets  a  vessel  bearing   an  American 
flag,  but  which  he  has  the  strongest  reasons  to  suspect  to  be  Brit- 
ish, and  engaged  in  the  slave  trade.     He  boards  her,  conducts  him- 
self with  perfect  propriety,  ascertains  his  error,  and  retires,  with- 
out committing  any  injury.     He  is  a   trespasser,  but  no  govern- 
ment would  ever  think  of  complaining  in  such  a  case.      A  perpe- 
tual right  to  stop,  to  search,  and  to  seize,  is  one  thing.     A  casual 
act  of  trespass,  conceded  to  be  such,  excused  by  peculiar  circum- 
stances, and  immediately  acknowledged  and  atoned  for,  is  another. 
The  latter  may  be  pardoned.     The   former  is  intolerable.     The 
commander  of  the  boarding  vessel  is  precisely  in  the  condition  of 
a  sheriff's  officer,  who  with  a  writ  against  A.  arrests  B.     Now  on 
a  trial  in  an   action  of  trespass,  which  B.  might  institute  for  this 
assault  and  battery,  what  would  be  the  measure  of  damages,  which 
an  intelligent  jury  would  apply  to  the  case?     They  would  adopt 
precisely  the  same  rule,  we  have  already  laid  down,  in  the  case  of 
the  commander.     If  the  officer  had  strong  reasons  to  mistake  the 
identity  of  B.,  and  to  suppose  he  was  A.,  and  if  he  had  conduc- 
ted himself  with  perfect  propriety,   and  had  really  committed  no 
injury,  he  would  be  dismissed  with  nominal  damages.     Damages, 
which,  while  they  asserted  the  great  principle  of  liberty,  would  yet 
be  perfectly  valueless  in  their  amount,  leaving  the  ill-advised  com- 
plainant to  pay  the  costs.     Such  is  the  illustration  of  our  maritime 
subject.     In  this  manner  the  principle  is  saved,  and  flagrant  abu- 
ses prevented.     And  why  the  naked  principle  is  incalculably  valu- 
able to  the  United  States,  is  obvious.     Upon  it  turns  the  claim  of 
impressment.     The  exercise  of  that  claim,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the 
consequence  of  a  legal  right  of  entry.     So  long  as  this  entry  is  il- 
legal, so  long  the  American  seamen  are,  by  British  confession,  safe 
from  British  power.     We  may  illustrate  this  principle  still  farther, 
and  it  is  well  to  do  so,  because  Lord  Aberdeen  pushes  the  immu- 
nity, even  to  the  protection  of  piracy  ;    and  some  of  the  English 
journals  have  expressed  a  very  patriotic  fear  of  that  result.     Let 
us  examine  this  matter.     The  cruiser  of  a  civilized  power  approa- 
ches a  region,  where  a  pirate  is  known  to  have  recently  been  com- 
mitting depredations.     His  appearance  is  described,  and  he  is  anx- 
iously watched.     A  vessel  with  the  flag  of  the  United  States  heaves 
in  sight,  and  she  bears  a  great  resemblance  to  the  corsair.     She 
is  entered,  and  the  mistake  is  discovered.     The  act  would  be  par- 
doned ;  and  especially,  as  the  crime  is  proscribed  by  the  law  of 
nations ;  a  law  which  all  powers  should  support  and  enforce  ;   and 
it  would  not  be  difficult  to  suppose  a  case,  where  the  public  ship 
of  a  nation  might  be  attacked,  and  under  such  strong  presumption 
of  her  being  a  pirate,  as  to  excuse,  though  not  to  justify,  the  ag- 
gression.    When  piracy   was  prevalent  in  the  West  Indies,  some 
years  since,  the  smaller  vessels  of  the  American  squadron,employed 
in  its  suppression,  were  often  disguised  to  deceive  the  pirates.     If 
ona  of  them  had  been  mistaken  by  a  French  or  British  frigate  for 


LIFE   OF   GENERAL   CASS.  157 

a  piratical  cruiser,  she  would' have  been  attacked;  but  the  matter 
would  have  been  amicably  arranged,  as  was  the  controversy,  re- 
specting the  action  between  the  American  frigate  the  President 
and  the  British  sloop  of  war  the  Little  Belt,  which  occurred  in 
profound  peace,  but  was  the  result  of  mutual  misunderstanding. 
Now,  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord  Aberdeen  do  not  claim  the  right, 
in  time  of  peace,  under  any  circumstances,  to  search  a  vessel  of  war, 
in  order  to  ascertain  her  nationality.  Here  the  bunting  rides  invi- 
olate. But  does  it  follow,  that  because  a  pirate  hoists  the  flag  of  a 
Christian  power,  and  assumes  the  appearance  of  one  of  her  arm- 
ed ships,  he  is  therefore  beyond  the  reach  of  his  pursuers  ?  Or  that 
all  the  French  vessels  of  war  upon  the  ocean  may  be  searched  by 
a  British  ship,  because  the  latter  chooses  to  suspect  they  are  pi- 
rates 1  Such  pretensions  would  be  absurd.  The  public  vessel  is 
inviolable  in  principle,  by  universal  consent,  as  the  private  vessel 
was,  till  this  pretension  arose.  The  immunity  of  the  one  has  not 
prevented  the  suppression  of  piracy,  nor  would  the  immunity  of 
the  other  prevent  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade.  Neither 
ought  to  be  'forcibly  entered  by  a  foreign  power  ;  but  if  their  guise 
is  assumed,  and  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  deceive  the  honest  cruiser, 
circumstances  might  occur  to  justify  him  in  attacking  the  one,  and 
in  entering  the  other. 

But  pursuing  the  analogy,  and  pushing  the  principle,  as  Lord  Pal- 
merston pushes  it,  it  is  evident,  that  if  the  possible  abuse  of  their 
flag,  for  the  purpose,  among  other  things,  of  carrying  on  the  slave 
trade,  is  a  proof  that  the  merchant  vessels  of  the  United  States 
may  be  stopped  and  searched ;  then  their  armed  ships  may  be  also 
stopped  and  searched,  or  every  corsair  who  may  in  like  manner 
hoist  their  flag,  may  roam  the  ocean  untouched.  We  leave  the  di- 
lemma, where  the  argument  originated.  With  our  views,  there  is 
no  difficulty.  These,  we  have  sufficiently  explained. 

Piracy  has  been  put  down,  without  any  violation  of  the  freedom 
of  the  seas,  or  of  the  independence  of  nations.  The  slave  trade 
may  be  put  down  also,  with  the  same  sacred  regard  to  those  great 
principles.  If  occasional  trespasses  are  committed,  in  attaining 
the  one  object  or  the  other,  let  these  be  judged,  as  they  arise. 
Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof.  Let  violence  not  be  en- 
couraged and  shielded  in  advance,  and  one  of  the  best  works  of 
man,  the  code  of  opinion,  by  which  the  strong  is  restrained,  and 
the  weak  protected  upon  the  ocean,  be  broken  up,  and  its  frag- 
ments scattered  to  the  wind. 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  this  principle,  as  the  Brit- 
ish statesmen  lay  it  down,  and  more  particularly  in  its  application 
to  the  slave  trade.  We  have  seen,  that  Lord  Palmerston,  who  cer- 
tainly expresses  himself  less  guardedly  than  Lord  Aberdeen,  quali 
fies  his  general  postulatum,  concerning  the  search  of  the  vessels  of 
the  United  States,  by  this  limitation,  that  there  must  be  circum- 
stances justifying  the  suspicion,  that  they  are  not  American  pro- 
perty, and  that  their  voyages  are  illegal.  Lord  Aberdeen  goes 


158  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

farther.  He  claims  no  right  of  search,  '•  except  under  the  most 
grave  suspicions  and  well  founded  doubts  of  the  genuineness  of 
its  (the  vessel's)  character."  And  he  too,  requires,  that  the  ob- 
ject of  the  vessel  should  be  "illegal." 

The  most  grave  suspicions  and  well  founded  doubts  of  what, 
Lord  Aberdeen?  Of  violating  your  municipal  laws  ?  If  that  pro- 
position is  meant  and  can  be  maintained,  then  England  is  much 
nearer  universal  domination  upon  the  ocean,  than  the  most  jealous 
observer  of  her  maritime  "steps"  has  ventured  even  to  insinuate. 
She  has  only,  by  statutory  provision,  to  declare,  as  she  already  de- 
clares in  principle,  that  the  employment  of  her  native  born  sub- 
jects, in  the  American  marine,  military  or  commercial,  is  illegal ; 
and  she  can  then  enter  the  ships  of  the  United  States,  and  seize 
their  crews,  without  resorting  to  the  sophism,  (we  speak  as  a  logi- 
cian, not  offensively,)  which  actually  casts  an  air  of  ridicule,  upon 
this  grave  question,  and  by  which  the  true  object  is  attained,  under 
a  pretended  one. 

She  has  only  to  declare  piratical  the  transportation  of  the  mer- 
chandise of  France,  as  she  has  declared  piratical  the  slave  trade, 
and  then  every  French  ship  sailing  the  ocean,  and  every  other  one 
indeed,  may  be  stopped  and  searched,  to  ascertain,  if  they  carry 
the  wines  of  Bordeaux,  the  silks  of  Lyons,  or  the  rich  and  elegant 
manufactured  articles  of  Paris.  From  such  a  search,  to  seizure 
and  condemnation  is  but  another  step ;  and  the  tri-colored  bunting 
of  France,  and  the  striped  bunting  of  the  American  Union,  might 
disappear  from  the  face  of  the  seas. 

Let  no  man  say,  that  such  things  will  not  happen.  Upon  this 
subject  we  can  no  more  assert  what  is  probable,  than  we  can  pre- 
dict what  will  happen.  No  step  in  this  onward  progress  can  be 
more  irreconcileable  with  common  right  and  common  sense,  than 
was  the  paper  blockade  of  half  Europe,  without  even  the  pretence 
that  this  interdict  was  supported  by  an  armed  vessel,  if  it  were  but 
a  gun-boat,  to  watch  one  hundredth  part  of  the  coast,  thus  pronoun- 
ced to  be  hermetically  closed. 

But  what  constitutes  this  illegality,  we  are  no  where  distinctly 
told.  Indeed,  the  whole  reasoning  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  upon  this 
branch  of  the  subject,  is  marked  with  a  confusion,  certainly  not 
the  characteristic  of  that  accomplished  statesman,  but  the  result  of 
the  position,  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  take.  He  says  in  one  part  of  his 
dispatch,  "that  the  present  happy  concurrence  of  the  States  of 
Christendom  (Q,u.  some  of  the  states  of  Europe  ?)  in  this  great  ob- 
ject, not  merely  justifies,  but  renders  indispensable  the  right  now 
claimed  and  exercised  by  the  British  government."  This,  it  will 
be  observed,  was  written  before  the  conclusion  of  the  late  treaty, 
between  five  of  the  European  powers,  upon  this  subject,  and  there- 
fore has  relation  only  to  the  previous  isolated  treaties ;  though  that 
circumstance  in  our  view,  whatever  it  may  do  in  that  of  Lord  Aber- 
deen, changes  nothing  in  the  rights  of  the  parties  to  this  contro- 
versy. That  all  the  powers  of  Christendom  hare  not  conceded 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  159 

this  right  of  search,  will  not  be  disputed ;  for  we  suppose  the  Uni- 
ted States  may  fairly  claim  to  belong  to  that  great  brotherhood  of 
nations.  Is  it  possible  Lord  Aberdeen  means  all  his  words  clearly 
express  ?  Will  he  openly  assume  the  principle,  that  the  concur- 
rence of  some  of  the  powers  of  Europe,  great  or  small,  in  a  mea- 
sure, even  when  avowedly  and  specifically  confined  to  themselves, 
immediately  and  ijjso  facto,  changes  the  law  of  nations,  and  sancti- 
fies the  principles  of  the  new  measure  ?  If  some  future  Napoleon 
should  arise,  and  by  a  general  continental  convention,  attempt  to 
exclude  England  from  the  markets  of  the  world,  would  this  act  of 
violence  become  legal  ?  Would  it  impose  upon  that  country  the 
moral  duty  of  submission,  because  the  "happy  concurrence  of  some 
of  the  States  of  Christendom  in  the  great  object,"  had  not  only 
legalized,  but  had  rendered  the  process,  by  which  their  decree  was 
to  be  enforced,  not  merely  justifiable,  but  indispensable  ?  This  is 
no  reasoning  for  the  nineteenth  century,  and  we  can  no  longer  oc- 
cupy ourselves  with  it. 

If  the  right  of  search  is  here  placed,  as  we  see,  upon  the  obliga- 
tion created  by  the  partial  treaties  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave 
trade,  there  are  passages  in  the  dispatches  of  both  Lord  Palmerston 
and  Lord  Aberdeen,  where  it  is  placed  upon  the  municipal  law  of 
England.  These  are  to  be  found,  where  Lord  Aberdeen  invokes 
the  necessity  of  examining  American  ships,  to  ascertain,  if  they 
are  not  "  British  ships  with  British  capital,"  carrying  on  a  traffic 
"which  the  law  (the  municipal  law  of  England)  has  declared  to  be 
piracy."  And  Lord  Palmerston  says,  that  without  this  right  of  search- 
ing American  vessels,  "even  the  laws  of  England  might  be  set 
at  defiance  by  her  own  subjects."  And  so  they  may  be  evaded  in 
a  thousand  ways,  and  have  been  evaded  by  means,  furnished  by 
ships  both  English  and  foreign.  And  why  confine  this  claim  of 
search  to  the  evasion  of  the  laws,  respecting  the  slave  trade  ?  Why 
not  extend  it  to  all  cases,  which  may  happen,  and  stop  and  seize 
upon  the  ocean  all  vessels,  suspected  or  pretended  to  be  suspected, 
of  aiding  in  such  evasion  ?  And  why  should  not  a  French  cruiser 
overhaul  and  search  any  merchant  man,  foreign  as  well  as  French, 
which,  it  may  be  pretended,  has  on  board  a  young  conscript,  flee- 
ing from  the  conscription  ?  This  branch  of  the  discussion  has  al- 
ready extended  too  far.  We  do  not  believe  it  is  necessary  for  any 
intelligent  reader,  that  we  should  farther  push  the  refutation  of  the 
pretension,  that  a  British  boarding  crew  may  enter  any  American 
ship  she  meets,  with  a  view  to  give  effect  to  the  British  laws.  That 
time  may  come,  and  perhaps  will  come,  if  this  step  is  gained.  But 
before  then,  many  strange  event?  may  come  to  pass. 

But  it  will  be  seen  also,  that  this  illegality,  which  we  are  in 
search  of,  is  created,  not  only  by  treaty  stipulations  and  municipal 
laws,  but  by  the  laws  of  nations.  To  this  last  authority  the  United 
States  avow  their  entire  submission,  and  what  that  ordains,  they 
will  cheerfully  obey.  Lord  Aberdeen  says  that  the  fraudulent 
abuse  of  the  American  flag  "constitutes  that  reasonable  ground  of 


160  LIFE   OF    GENERAL    CASS.  . 

suspicion,  which  the  law  of  nations  requires  in  such  a  case."  Let 
Lord  Aberdeen  put  his  finger  upon  that  part  of  the  law,  which  ap- 
plies to  "such  a  case,"  and  all  opposition  to  the  pretensions  of  his 
country  is  at  an  end.  But  it  is  the  fair  provision,  which  is  de- 
manded, and  not  a  substitute,  created  by  a  false  analogy.  This 
doctrine  is  not  to  be  supported,  by  transferring  to  this  subject  prin- 
ciples and  practices,  applicable  only  to  a  state  of  war,  and  to  acts, 
which  are  then  "illegal,"  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  mankind. 

But  after  all,  supposing  the  law  to  be  as  laid  down,  that  Ameri- 
can vessels  may  be  searched,  because  their  voyages  may  be  some- 
times "illegal,"  what  are  the  circumstances,  which  justify  the  ex- 
ercise of  this  measure,  agreeably  to  the  British  doctrine  ?  We 
repeat  the  rule,  as  stated  by  Lord  Aberdeen.  No  vessel  bearing 
the  American  flag  ought  to  be  visited  by  a  British  cruiser,  except 
"  under  the  most  grave  suspicions,  and  well  founded  doubts  of  the 
genuineness  of  its  character."  What  is  the  practical  application 
of  this  rule  ?  Why,  American  vessels  are  visited,  in  the  language 
of  Lord  Aberdeen,  "  in  certain  latitudes  and  for  a  particular  ob- 
ject." That  is  to  say,  their  very  appearance  in  "certain  latitudes" 
is  a  "grave  suspicion,"  and  thence  follows  the  entry,  the  detention, 
the  search,  and,  it  may  be,  the  seizure  !  If  this  is  not  reversing 
the  natural  order  of  things,  and  casting  the  burden  of  proof  upon 
the  injured  party,  we  confess  our  inability  to  understand  the  sub- 
ject. This  amounts  to  a,  complete  blockade  of  the  great  southern 
ocean,  from  Rio  Janeiro  to  the  Bight  of  Benin.  How  long  it  may 
continue,  and  how  much  farther  it  may  extend,  we  leave  to  history 
to  tell. 

There  is  a  tendency  in  the  communications  of  both  the  British 
Secretaries  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  to  consider  the  African  slave 
trade  as  piracy.  This  point  established,  and  all  opposition  to  this 
claim  of  search,  in  cases  bonajidc  suspicious,  would  cease.  Lord 
Palmerston  speaks  of  "slave  trading  pirates,"  and  Lord  Aberdeen 
of  "piratical  adventurers." 

But  this  is  loose  language,  except  so  far  as  it  has  reference  to 
municipal  laws.  The  slave  trade  is  nefarious,  unjustifiable,  and 
ought  every  where  to  be  proscribed,  and  rigorously  punished.  But 
it  is  one  of  that  class  of  acts,  whose  criminality  depends  upon  the 
laws  of  different  countries.  A  nation  or  a  combination  of  nations 
may  call  it  piracy,  and  apply  to  their  own  citizens  the  punishment 
usually  prescribed  for  that  crime.  But  this  change  of  names 
changes  nothing  in  the  nature  of  things,  and  piracy  is  now,  by  the 
law  of  nations,  what  it  has  been  for  ages  past. 

As  to  the  status  of  slavery  itself,  it  were  idle  to  contend  it  is  il- 
legal by  the  common  consent  of  mankind.  It  has  existed  since  the 
earliest  ages  of  the  world,  and  there  is  probably  no  nation,  ancient 
or  modern,  among  whom  it  has  not  been  known.  By  some,  it  has 
been  abolished ;  and  where  it  yet  survives,  we  hope  its  condition 
has  been  meliorated.  This  is  certainly  true  of  the  United  States. 
A  general  disposition  is  gaining  ground  to  improve  the  situation  of 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  161 

this  unfortunate  class  of  society.  This  is  felt  in  the  Southern 
states  of  the  American  confederacy,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  and  he 
who  should  judge  of  the  treatment  of  the  slaves  in  that  region,, 
by  their  treatment  in  the  West  India  colonies,  would  do  the  South- 
ern planter  egregious  injustice.  The  best  proof  of  this  assertion 
is  the  fact,  disclosed  by  the  statistical  tables,  published  by  the  Amer- 
ican government,  that  in  some  slave  states  the  slaves  increase  faster 
than  the  white  population ;  and  another  fact,  not  less  significative,, 
is  the  rate  of  their  natural  augmentation.  This  is  found  to  be 
between  twenty  five  and  thirty  per  cent  in  each  decennial  period. 
A  very  respectable  countryman,  now  here,  in  whose  statement  we 
place  full  confidence,  has  just  informed  us,  he  has  examined  the 
subject  and  finds,  though  there  are  more  than  fourteen  millions  of 
free  white  persons  in  the  United  States,  and  but  two  millions  and 
a  half  of  slaves,  yet  the  number  in  the  latter  class,  over  one  hun- 
dred years  of  age,  is  almost  double  that  in  the  former. 

We  are  no  slaveholder.  We  never  have  been.  We  never  shall 
be.  We  deprecate  its  existence  in  principle,  and  pray  for  its  abo- 
lition everywhere,  where  this  can  be  effected  justly,  and  peaceably, 
and  safely  for  both  parties.  But  we  would  not  carry  fire,  and  de- 
vastation, and  murder,  and  ruin  into  a  peaceful  community,  to  push 
on  the  accomplishment  of  the  object.  But,  after  having  visited 
the  three  quarters  of  the  old  Continent,  we  say  before  God  and 
the  world,  that  we  have  seen  far  more,  and  more  frightful  misery, 
since  we  landed  in  Europe,  and  we  have  not  visited  Ireland  yet, 
than  in  the  United  States.  Whatever  may  be  said,  there  is  much 
of  the  patriarchal  relation  between  the  Southern  planter  and  the 
slave.  And  as  to  the  physical  distress,  which  is  seen  in  Europe, . 
resulting  from  a  want  of  food,  and  from  exposure  to  a  rigorous ; 
winter,  without  adequate  clothing,  we  believe  it  to  be  so  rare,  as. 
not  to  form  a  just  element  in  the  consideration  of  this  matter. 
But  the  subject  of  the  emancipation  of  two  millions  and  a  half  of 
human  beings,  living  among  another  population,  of  different  race 
and  color,  and  with  different  habits  and  feelings,  is  one  of  the 
gravest  questions,  which  can  submitted  to  society  to  solve.  It  can 
be  safely  left,  only  to  those,  who  are  to  be  so  seriously  affected  by 
it ;  and  there  it  is  left  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  Staes.  It 
is  a  matter,  with  which  the  General  Government  has  no  concern. 

And  so  with  respect  to  the  slave  trade.  It  is  a  traffic,  which 
can  be  traced  back  to  the  time  of  Jacob,  whose  son  was  sold  ^nto 
Egypt;  and  down,  in  some  form  or  other,  during  the  successive 
ages,  which  have  intervened,  to  the  last  century,  when  by  treaty 
arrangements  with  Spain,  England  obtained,  as  a  great  commer- 
cial favor,  the  privilege  of  supplying  the  Spanish  colonies  with 
slaves,*  and  the  present,  when  after  many  years  of  bitter  opposi- 

*  The  first  article  of  the  treaty  of  Madrid  of  26th  March,  1713,  is  thus  conceiv-, 
ed,  whereas  the  assiento,  which  was  formed  with  the  Company  Royal  of  Guinea, 
established  in  France  to  furnish  negro  slaves  for  the  West  Indies,  has  expired 
and  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain  wishing  to  enter  into  this  commerce,  and  in  her 
name  the  English  Company,  etc. 


162  LIFE   OP   GENERAL    CASS. 

tion,  the  English  Parliament  voted  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  ; 
but  when  some  of  the  greatest  names*  in  England,  were  found  in 
the  minority.  These  Statesmen,  by  their  votes  not  only  pronounc- 
ed the  slave  trade  to  be  legal  and  expedient,  but  moral  also,  so  far, 
as  that  consideration  formed,  at  that  time,  a  motive  of  legislative 
action.  That  it  is  illegal,  by  the  great  code  of  public  law,  no 
statesman,  nor  publicist,  or  well  informed  man  will  seriously  con- 
tend. Thanks  to  the  advancing  opinions  of  the  age,  its  atrocity 
is  generally  acknowledged,  and  the  obligation  of  Christian  States 
to  extirpate  it,  almost  everywhere  felt  and  obeyed.  But  it  is  not 
permitted,  in  order  to  attain  a  great  good,  to  commit  a  great  evil. 
In  order  to  break  up  this  traffic,  to  break  down  the  barriers,  which 
centuries  have  been  rearing,  and  by  which  the  weak  are  every- 
where protected  against  the  strong,  the  peaceful  against  the  war- 
like. The  law  of  nations  is  but  general  opinion,  illustrated  by 
able  jurists,  and  sanctified  by  time,  and  by  universal  acquiescence. 
Touch  it  rudely,  and  the  whole  fabric  will  disappear,  leaving  the 
nations  of  the  world,  in  their  mutual  relations,  as  they  existed  in 
the  most  barbarous  ages. 

Most  wisely  and  most  impressively  therefore,  did  Lord  Stowell 
say,  "  No  nation  has  the  right  to  force  their  way,  for  the  libera- 
tion of  Africa,  by  trampling  upon  the  independence  of  other  States, 
on  the  pretence  of  an  eminent  good,  by  means,  that  are  unlawful ; 
or  to  press  forward  to  a  great  principle,  by  breaking  through  other 
great  principles,  which  stand  in  their  way." 

Words  of  deep  wisdom  and  solemn  warning ;  and  lamentable  is 
it,  that  their  obligation  has  scarcely  outlived  the  able  and  venera- 
ble judge,  by  whom  they  were  pronounced.  And  above  all  is  it 
to  be  deplored,  that  the  first  public  practical  disavowal  of  these 
sentiments  should  come  from  a  country,  whose  la\y  they  were 
fuled  to  be. 

We  have  already  adverted  to  the  opinion  of  the  Duke  of  Well- 
ington, in  connexion  with  that  of  Lord  Stowell.  This  we  did  from 
memory,  but  at  the  moment  of  writing  this  part  of  our  remarks, 
we  have  been  enabled  to  refer  to  a  debate  in  the  House  of  Lords 
in  July  1839,  where  his  sentiments  are  fully  disclosed.  With 
that  spirit  of  frankness  and  sagacity,  which  are  not  the  least  emi- 
nent, among  the  qualities  of  that  eminent  man,  he  predicted  the 
issue,  to  which  this  pretension  must  lead.  He  said,  "  the  clause 
in  (question  made  it  lawful  to  detain  any  vessels  whatever,  on  sus- 
picion, on  the  high  seas,  and  demand  their  papers ;  and  the  per- 

*  In  looking  over  Clarkson's  History  of  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  we  find 
that  the  cabinet  of  Mr.  Pitt  was  divided  upon  this  subject,  and  that  the  sincerity 
of  that  distinguished  man  in  the  support  of  it  was  generally  doubted.  And  Clark- 
son  states  that  from  the  known  sentiments  of  the  King,  the  veto  of  the  bill  was 
feared. 

Among  the  opponents,  we  find  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  (afterwards  William  the 
Fourth,)  who  called  the  supporters  of  the  bill,  fanatics  and  hypocrites,  Lords 
Thurlow,  Rodney,  Sheffield,  Eldon,  Saint  Vincent,  Liverpool,  Sidmouth  (who 
•was  Mr.  Addington.)  Hawksbury  (who  was  M.  Jenkinson.)  Mr.  Dundas,  Colonel 
Tarleton,  Major  Scott,  etc. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  163 

sons  exercising  such  authority  were  moreover  indemnified  for  all 
the  consequences.  Was  it  intended,  that  the  vessels  of  any  power 
in  Europe  might  be  searched,  and  afterwards  allowed  to  proceed 
on  their  voyage,  whether  we  had  treaties  with  those  powers  or  not  1 
Such  a  law  would  be  a  perfect  novelty  in  the  legislation  of  this 
country,  and  the  House  ought  to  well  pause  before  they  adopted  it." 

Again,  on  the  15th  August,  the  Duke  remarked,  "  it  was  well 
known,  that  with  the  United  States  we  had  no  convention ;  there 
were  indeed  engagements,  made  by  diplomatic  notes,  but  nothing 
went  to  show  the  least  disposition  on  their  part  to  permit  the  right 
of  detention  and  the  search  of  papers  ;  and  if  there  was  one  point, 
more  to  be  avoided  than  another,  it  was  that  relating  to  the  visi- 
tation of  vessels,  belonging  to  the  Union.  He  warned  government 
not  to  proceed,  but  rather  to  issue  an  order  in  council  or  a  decla- 
ration of  war." 

We  quote  the  remarks  of  Lord  Brougham,  because  they  are 
equally  honorable  to  himself,  to  truth,  and  to  the  American  Gov- 
ernment. "  It  could  not  be  disguised,  that  we  were  peculiarly 
situated,  with  respect  to  the  United  States ;  because  we  had  not 
effected  any  treaty,  conferring  such  right  of  search.  It  should  be 
borne  in  mind,  that  the  United  States,  at  the  very  earliest  period, 
they  were  enabled  to  do  so  by  the  federal  union,  had  adopted  the 
abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  and  were  in  fact  the  first  to  make  it 
piracy,  for  any  one  of  its  subjects  to  carry  it  on.  The  government 
of  the  United  States  was  not  so  strong  as  a  monarchial  govern- 
ment, nor  had  it  such  direct  and  powerful  means  of  controlling  its 
subjects."  And  he  remarks  with  respect  to  the  sale  of  American 
ships  to  persons  carrying  on  the  slave  trade,  "  but  the  people 
might  not  after  all  be  answerable  for  the  purposes,  to  which  they 
were  devoted  ;  not  more  so,  certainly,  than  an  English  ship-buil- 
der, who  sold  vessels,  constructed  in  his  yard,  which  were  after- 
wards despatched  to  the  coast  of  Africa." 

We  shall  not  add  a  word  to  the  authority  of  these  high  names. 
Their  decisions  need  no  commentary  from  us. 

Keeping  in  view  the  preceding  course  of  discussion,  it  is  obvi- 
ous, that  upon  the  principles,  heretofore  received  among  mankind, 
if  the  United  States  should  peremptorily  refuse  all  co-operation, 
in  any  effort  to  put  down  the  slave  trade,  they  would  be  responsi- 
ble only  to  the  public  opinion  of  nations,  and  to  him,  by  whom 
nations  rise  and  fall  It  would  be  but  the  consequence,  says  the 
London  Sun  "  of  our  former  proceedings,  which  have  made  it  im- 
possible for  the  Americans  to  admit  this  claim.  By  committing 
injustice  on  our  own  people,  we  have  bred  up  our  officers  in  arbi- 
trary habits,  which  have  made  them  arbitrary  to  other  nations, 
and  the  consequences  debar  England  from  following  out  her  hu- 
mane wishes  to  suppress  the  slave  trade." 

But  the  United  States  refuse  no  such  co-operation.  They  have 
interdicted,  as  we  have  seen,  this  trade  to  their  citizens,  and  have 
provided  exemplary  punishments,  for  the  transgressors.  They 


164  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

have,  for  many  years,  kept  a  squadron  upon  the  coast  of  Africa, 
to  aid  in  its  suppression,  and  they  are  now  making  arrangements 
for  its  augmentation.  We  do  not  affect  to  deny,  that  a  general 
right  of  search  would  assist  the  objects,  which  all  the  Christian 
powers  are  seeking  to  attain.  It  would  be  an  additional  means  of 
detection  ;  but  such  a  right  is  not  at  all  indispensable  to  success. 
Much  has  already  been  done,  and  the  work  is  going  on  now.  It 
would  be  greatly  promoted,  if  the  markets  in  countries  to  which 
slaves  are  yet  transported,  were  closed  to  this  traffic.  If  these 
unhappy  victims  of  lawless  violence  could  not  be  sold,  they  would 
not  be  bought.  Let  a  general  effort  be  made  with  the  Spanish, 
Portuguese  and  Brazilian  governments  to  induce  them  to  act  vi- 
gorously in  this  matter,  by  judicious  municipal  regulations,  faith- 
fully executed ;  and  a  powerful  means  of  success  will  be  put  in 
motion,  without  "  breaking  down  the  great  principles,  which  now 
stand  in  its  way." 

That  the  efforts  to  suppress  the  slave  trade  may  be  rendered 
successful,  without  the  adoption  of  this  obnoxious  measure,  is  evi- 
dent, from  a  suggestion  in  a  London  journal,  which,  with  just  feel- 
ing, seeks  to  avert  the  impending  consequences  of  this  claim  of 
search.  This  journal  proposes,  that  an  officer  of  the  British  and 
American  navies  shall  reciprocally  sail  in  one  of  the  cruisers  of 
the  respective  nations,  and  that  such  officer  shall  exercise  the  right 
of  search  in  the  vessels  of  his  own  country,  thus  ascertaining  their 
character  and  objects,  and  seizing  them,  when  guilty,  without  any 
violation  of  the  rights  of  sovereignty.  We  do  not  stop  to  examine 
this  proposition ;  we  merely  allude  to  it,  to  show  that  in  a  spirit  of 
accommodation,  meansi  may  be  found  to  reconcile  all  avowed  ob- 
jects, with  national  dignity  and  independence.  Such  a  plan  would 
possess  one  advantage.  It  would  be  truly  reciprocal ;  whereas  the 
proffered  power  to  search  is  but  the  mockery  of  reciprocity  to- 
wards the  United  States,  whose  institutions  will  permit  impressment, 
as  a  means  of  manning  their  navy.  While,  therefore,  the  British 
officer  enters  to  search  and  impress,  and  the  American  officer  en- 
ters to  search,  the  inequality  is  too  glaring  to  need  illustration. 

But  after  all,  what  kind  of  philanthropy  is  that,  which  seeks  not 
merely  to  put  down  the  African  slave  trade,  but  to  put  it  down  by 
the  employment  of  one  means  among  many,  and  which  means  if 
persisted  in,  as  threatened,  will  as  surely  involve  two  great  nations 
in  war,  as  to-morrow's  sun  will  rise  upon  both  ?  And  who  can 
tell  the  issue  of  such  a  war,  not  merely  to  the  parties  themselves, 
fhat  we  shall  not  touch,  but  to  the  civilized  world  ?  Who  can  tell 
the  questions  of  maritime  right,  which  will  arise  during  its  progress, 
and  maritime  wrongs,  which  will  be  inflicted  ?  Who  can  tell  how 
soon  its  sphere  will  be  enlarged,  and  the  oppressions  of  Africa  be 
lost  sight  of,  in  the  struggles  of  Europe  and  America. 

It  is  strange  indeed,  but  so  it  is,  that  one  of  the  modes  proposed 
for  the  liberation  of  the  negro,  from  the  traffic  of  his  flesh  and  blood 
will  necessarily  lead  to  the  bondage  of  the  American  seaman  \ 


,  -,, 

LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  165 

where  his  flesh  and  blood  are  not  indeed  sold,  but  where  they  are 
taken  without  price,  and  may  be  swept  away  by  the  cannon  of  his 
own  country.  "  When  they  doubted,  they  took  the  trick."  Words, 
which  all  Americans  should  grave  upon  their  hearts.  We  may 
safely  appeal  to  any  generous  Englishman  and  Frenchman,  and 
ask,  what  would  be  their  sensations,  if  told,  "  Yes  we  do  seize  your 
citizens,  we  will  seize  them ;  when  we  doubt  we  take  the  trick,"  Let 
each  answer  for  himself,  and  that  answer  will  disclose  the  feelings 
of  the  Americans ;  for  this  trick  it  is  a  man,  an  American  citizen. 
By  and  by,  after  after  law  shall  have  worked  its  way  far  enough, 
the  trick  may  become  a  French  citizen ;  and  what  sort  of  a  strug- 
gle will  come  when  that  step  is  taken  ? 

But  should  the  United  States  yield  to  this  claim,  what  security 
is  there  for  them,  or  for  nations,  like  them,  interested  in  the  free- 
dom of  the  seas,  that  it  would  not  be  followed  by  another  and  another 
pretension,  till  the  British  flag  rode  triumphant  over  the  waters  of 
the  earth  ?  How  far  is  to  be  pushed  this  crusade  of  benevolence, 
which  would  involve  east  and  west  in  one  calamity,  in  order  to  at- 
tain, in  its  own  way,  an  object  which  must  come,  and  that  speedi- 
ly ?  There  are  significant  signs  abroad,  that  this  is  but  the  com- 
mencement of  a  system,  destined  to  a  wide  extension.  Already 
the  project  has  been  publicly  discussed  in  England,  of  putting  a 
stop  to  the  sale  of  its  products.  It  has  been  supported  in  the  jour- 
nals, and  advocated  we  believe,  in  parliament.  The  scheme  has 
not  yet  ripened  into  a  plan.  But  benevolence  is  sometimes  shrewd 
as  well  as  active,  and  the  proposition,  so  far,  is  merely  to  interdict 
the  sale  of  these  products  in  England ;  yet  who  can  tell  how  soon 
the  question  may  enter  in  an  improved  form,  into  the  maritime 
code  of  nations?  It  would  be  but  another  .step,  and  though  it 
might  be  accompanied  by  another  struggle,  leading  to  universal 
war,  what  cares  the  philanthropist  for  this?  Laic  would  work  its 
own  way.  Slavery  is  wrong,  as  well  as  the  slave  trade.  We  can- 
not enter  upon  the  territory  of  another  nation,  to  suppress  it.  But 
we  will  seize  its  products  upon  the  ocean.  They  shall  become 
contraband  of  peace.  No  cotton,  rice,  coffee,  sugar  nor  tobacco, 
not  the  product  of  free  labor,  shall  be  lawful  freight.  And  thus  the 
object  just,  the  means  must  be  just  also. 

But  here  we  drop  the  discussion,  leaving  every  reflecting  man 
to  draw  his  own  conclusions.  Most  sincerely  do  we  hope,  that 
Lord  Ashburton  carries  out,  to  the  American  Government  some 
modified  proposition,  it  can  accept.  But  we  freely  confess,  look- 
ing to  the  pretensions  of  both  parties  and  knowing  the  feelings  of 
our  countrymen,  that  we  do  not  see,  upon  what  middle  ground  they 
can  meet.  Our  fears  are  stronger  than  our  hopes ;  and  sad  will 
be  the  day,  when  two  such  nations  go  to  war.  Even  if  England 
were  clearly  right,  as  in  our  opinion  she  is  clearly  wrong,  she 
might  forbear  much,  without  any  imputation  upon  her  honor.  She 
has  won  her  way  to  distinction  by  a  thousand  feats  in  arms,  and 
what  is  her  better  title  to  renown,  by  countless  feats  in  peace. 


166  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

Triumphs  of  genius,  of  skill,  of  industry  and  of  enterprise,  which 
have  gained  her  a  name,  that  the  proudest  may  envy  and  that  few 
can  hope  to  equal.  She  has  given  birth  to  an  empire  in  the  west. 
An  empire,  whose  extent  and  duration  it  passes  human  sagacity, 
even  to  conjecture.  There  are  planted  her  laws,  her  language, 
her  manners,  her  institutions.  A  thousand  ties  of  interest  unite 
these  kindred  people.  Let  England  cherish  this,  as  her  most  glo- 
rious work.  But  let  her  recollect  too,  that  a  spirit,  equal  to  her 
own,  animates  the  republic,  and  though  she  may  be  crushed,  that 
she  will  not  be  dishonored. 

The  protest  of  General  Cass  met  with  the  warmest  approbation 
from  his  countrymen ;  nor  could  the  administration,  although  dif- 
fering in  political  views,  withhold  its  acknowledgement  of  the  sig- 
nal service  rendered  by  him  at  this  eventful  and  unexpected  exi- 
gency. The  protest  is  truly  patriotic  and  American  in  its  senti- 
ments. It  excited  the  indignation  of  the  English  government  and 
press.  Its  author  was  abused  without  stint  in  the  public  newspa- 
pers and  in  parliament.  Its  influence  may  be  justly  estimated  by 
its  effect  upon  those  whose  schemes  it  defeated. 

The  document  which  exerted  so  much  influence  upon  the  pro- 
ceedings of  great  and  powerful  nations,  was  the  following : 

LEGATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

Paris,  13th  February,  1842. 
M.  GUIZOT,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  : 

SIR — The  recent  signature  of  a  treaty,  having  for  its  object  the 
suppression  of  the  African  slave  trade,  by  five  of  the  powers  of 
Europe,  and  to  which  France  is  a  party,  is  a  fact  of  such  general 
notoriety,  that  it  may  be  assumed  as  the  basis  of  any  diplomatic 
representations  which  the  subject  may  fairly  require. 

The  United  States,  being  no  party  to  this  treaty,  have  no  right 
to  inquire  into  the  circumstances  which  have  led  to  it,  nor  into 
the  measures  it  proposes  to  adopt,  except  so  far  as  they  have  rea- 
son to  believe  that  their  rights  may  be  involved  in  the  course  of 
its  execution. 

Their  own  desire  to  put  a  stop  to  this  traffic,  is  everywhere 
known,  as  well  as  the  early  and  continued  efforts  they  have  adopt- 
ed, to  prevent  their  citizens  from  prosecuting  it.  They  have  been 
invited  by  the  government  of  Great  Britain  to  become  a  party  to 
a  treaty,  which  should  regulate  the  action  of  the  combined  gov- 
ernments upon  the  subject.  But.  for  reasons  satisfactory  to  them- 
selves, and,  I  believe,  satisfactory  to  the  world,  they  have  declined 
this  united  action,  and  have  chosen  to  pursue  their  own  measures, 
and  to  act  upon  their  own  citizens,  without  subjecting  these  to 
any  kind  of  foreign  jurisdiction. 


LIFE    OE    GENERAL    CASS. 

In  a  communication  from  Lord  Palmerston,  Her  Brittanic  Ma- 
jesty's principal  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  to  Mr.  Ste- 
venson, the  American  Minister  at  London,  dated  27th  August, 
1841,  Lord  Palmerston  claims  a  right  for  Her  Majesty's  cruisers, 
and  avows  the  intention  of  his  government  to  exercise  it,  to  search 
American  vessels  at  sea  in  time  of  peace,  with  a  view  to  ascertain 
their  national  character.  He  adds,  that  "  this  examination  of  pa- 
pers of  merchantmen  suspected  ol  being  engaged  in  the  slave 
trade,  even  though  they  hoist  an  United  States'  flag,  is  a  proceed- 
ing which  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  British  cruisers  employed 
in  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  should  continue  to  prac- 
tice," &/C. 

In  a  communication  from  the  successor  of  Lord  Palmerston, 
Lord  Aberdeen,  to  Mr.  Stevenson,  dated  13th  October,  1841,  the 
views  and  determination  announced  in  the  first,  are  confirmed ; 
and  Lord  Aberdeen  thus  states  the  ground  upon  which  rests  this 
pretension  to  search  American  vessels  in  time  of  peace :  "  But 
the  undersigned  must  observe,  that  the  present  happy  concurrence 
of  the»  states  of  Christendom  in  this  great  object,  (the  suppression 
of  the  slave  trade,)  not  merely  justifies,  but  renders  indispensable, 
the  right  now  claimed  and  exercised  by  the  British  government ;" 
that  is  to  say,  the  right  of  entering  and  examining  American  ves- 
sels to  ascertain  their  true  nationality. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  duty  to  offer  any  comments  upon  this  pre- 
tension, nor  upon  the  reasons  advanced  in- support  of  it.  And  if 
it  were,  I  should  find  the  duty  far  better  performed  for  me,  than  I 
could  perform  it  for  myself,  in  the  annual  message  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States  to  Congress,  of  7th  December,  1841.  In 
that  document  will  be  found  the  views  of  the  American  govern- 
ment upon  this  subject,  and  it  is  there  emphatically  declared  that, 
"However  desirous  the  United  States  may  be  for  the  suppression 
of  the  slave  trade,  they  cannot  consent  to  interpolations  into  the 
maritime  code,  at  the  mere  will  or  pleasure  of  other  governments. 
We  deny  the  right  of  any  such  interpolation  to  any  one,  or  to  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  without  our*consent.  We  claim  to  have 
a  voice  in  all  amendments  or  alterations  of  that  code;  and  when 
we  are  given  to  understand,  as  in  this  instance,  by  a  foreign  gov- 
ernment, that  its  treaties  with  other  nations  cannot  be  executed 
without  the  establishment  and  enforcement  of  new  principles  of 
maritime  police,  we  must  employ  a  language  neither  of  equivocal 
import,  nor  susceptible  of  misconstruction." 

You  will  perceive,  sir,  by  these  extracts,  that  the  British  gov- 
ernment has  advanced  a  pretension  which  it  asserts  to  be  indispen- 
sable to  the  execution  of  its  treaties  for  the  suppression  of  the 
slave  trade,  and  to  which  the  President  of  the  United  States  has 
declared  that  the  American  government  will  not  submit.  This 
claim  of  search,  it  will  be  observed,  arising,  as  is  asserted,  out  of 
existing  obligations,  has  relation  to  the  isolated  treaties  for  the 
abolition  of  this  traffic,  which  were  in  force  at  the  date  of  the 


168  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

communication  of  Lord  Palmerston  and  of  Lord  Aberdeen.  It  is 
now  known,  that  the  combined  treaty  upon  this  subject,  is  more 
extensive  in  its  operations,  and  more  minute  in  some  of  the  details 
of  its  execution,  than  the  separate  treaties  with  France  which  pre- 
ceded it,  and  equally  indefinite  in  the  duration  of  its  obligations. 

Of  course,  measures  which  were  not  only  "justifiable  but  indis- 
pensable "  for  the  execution  of  the  latter,  will  find  equal  justice 
and  necessity  in  the  obligations  of  the  former. 

With  this  previous  declaration,  made  by  one  of  the  parties  to 
this  Quintuple  Treaty,  concerning  its  operations,  the  American 
government  cannot  shut  their  eyes  to  their  true  position.  The 
moral  effect  which  such  an  union  of  five  great  powers,  two  of 
which  are  eminently  maritime,  but  three  of  which  have  perhaps 
never  had  a  vessel  engaged  in  that  traffic,  is  calculated  to  produce 
upon  the  United  States  and  upon  other  nations  which,  like  them, 
may  be  indisposed  to  these  combined  movements,  though  it  may 
be  regretted,  yet  furnishes  no  just  cause  for  complaint.  But  the 
subject  assumes  another  aspect,  when  they  are  told  by  one  of  the 
parties,  that  their  vessels  are  to  be  forcibly  entered  and  examined  M 
in  order  to  carry  into  effect  these  stipulations.  Certainly  the  Ame- 
rican government  does  not  believe  that  the  high  powers,  contract- 
ing parties  to  this  treaty,  have  any  wish  to  compel  the  United 
States,  by  force,  to  adapt  their  measures  to  its  provisions,  or  to 
adopt  its  stipulations.  They  have  too  much  confidence  in  their 
sense  of  justice  to  fear  any  such  result ;  and  they  will  see  with 
pleasure  the  prompt  disavowal  made  by  yourself,  sir,  in  the  name 
of  your  country,  at  the  Tribune  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  of 
any  intentions  of  this  nature.  But  were  it  otherwise,  and  were  it 
possible,  they  might  be  deceived  in  this  confident  expectation,  that 
would  not  alter  in  one  tittle  their  course  of  action.  Their  duty 
would  be  the  same,  and  the  same  would  be  their  determination  to 
fulfil  it.  They  would  prepare  themselves — with  apprehension  in- 
deed, but  without  dismay — with  regret,  but  with  firmness — for  one 
of  those  desperate  struggles,  which  have  sometimes  occurred  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  but  where  a  just  cause  and  the  favor  of 
Providence  have  given  strength  to  comparative  weakness,  and  ena- 
bled it  to  break  down  the  pride  of  power. 

But  I  have  already  said  the  United  States  do  not  fear  that  any 
such  united  attempt  will  be  made  upon  their  independence.  What, 
however,  they  may  reasonably  fear,  in  what  they  do  fear  is,  that  in 
the  execution  of  thjs  treaty,  measures  will  be  taken  which  they 
must  resist.  Mow  far  the  acts  of  one  of  the  parties,  putting  its 
own  construction  upon  its  own  duties  and  upon  the  obligations  of 
its  co-contractors,  may  involve  these  in  any  unlocked  for  conse- 
quences, either  by  the  adoption  of  similar  measures,  or  by  their 
rejection,  I  do  not  presume  to  judge.  Certain  it  is,  however,  that 
if  the  fact  and  the  principle  advanced  by  Lord  Aberdeen  are  cor- 
rect, that  these  treaties  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  cannot 
be  executed  without  forcibly  boarding  American  ships  at  sea  in 


LIFE   OF   GENERAL    CASS.  169 

time  of  peace,  and  that  the  obligations  created  by  these  confer  not 
only  the  right  thus  to  violate  the  American  flag,  but  make  this 
measure  a  duty,  then  it  is  also  the  duty  of  France  to  pursue  the 
same  course.  Should  she  put  this  construction  upon  her  obliga- 
tions, it  is  obvious  the  United  States  must  do  to  her  as  they  will 
do  to  England,  if  she  persists  in  this  attack  upon  their  indepen- 
dence. Should  she  not,  it  does  not  become  me  to  investigate  the 
nature  of  her  position  with  respect  to  one  of  her  associates,  whose 
opinion  concerning  their  relative  duties  wonld  be  so  widely  differ- 
ent from  her  own. 

But  I  may  express  the  hope,  that  the  government  of  His  Majes- 
ty, before  ratifying  this  treaty,  will  examine  maturely  the  preten- 
sions asserted  by  one  of  the  parties,  and  see  how  these  can  be  re- 
conciled, not  only  with  the  honor  and  interest  of  the  United  States, 
but  with  the  received  principles  of  the  Great  Maritime  Code  of 
nations.  I  may  make  this  appeal  with  the  more  confidence,  from 
the  relations  subsisting  between  France  and  the  United  States, 
from  a  community  of  interest  in  the  liberty  of  the  seas;  from  a 
community  of  opinion  respecting  the  principles  which  guard  it  ; 
and  from  a  community  in  danger,  should  it  ever  be  menaced  by 
the  ambition  of  any  maritime  power.  * 

It  appears  to  me,  sir,  that  in  asking  the  attention  of  His  Majes- 
ty's government  to  the  subject  of  the  Quintuple  Treaty,  with  a 
view  to  its  reconsideration,  I  am  requesting  nothing  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States  inconsistent  with  the  duties  of  France  to  other 
powers. 

If,  during  the  course  of  the  discussions  upon  this  treaty,  pre- 
paratory to  The  arrangement  of  its  provisions,  England  had  assert- 
ed to  the  other  parties  the  pretensions  she  now  asserts  to  the  Uni- 
ted States,  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  its  obligation,  I  cannot 
be  wrong  in  presuming  that  France  would  not  have  signed  it,  with- 
out guarding  against  this  impending  difficulty. 

The  views  of  England  are  now  disclosed  to  you,  fortunately  be- 
fore its  ratification.  And  this  change  of  circumstances  may  well 
justify  the  French  government  in  interposing  such  a  remedy  as  it 
may  think  is  demanded  by  the  grave  interests  involved  in  this 
question. 

As  to  the  treaties  of  1831  and  1833,  between  France  and  Great 
Britain,  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  I  do  not  consider 
it  my  duty  to  advert  to  their  stipulations.  Their  obligations  upon 
the  contracting  parties,  whatever  they  may  be,  are  now  complete ; 
and  it  is  for  my  government  alone  to  determine  what  measures  the 
United  States  ought  to  take  to  avert  the  consequences  with  which 
they  are  threatened  by  the  construction  which  one  of  the  parties 
has  given  to  these  instruments. 

I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  copy  of  the  message  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States  to  Congress,  in  December  last, 
and  of  the  annual  documents  which  accompanied  it.  Among  the 
latter  will  be  found  the  correspondence  between  the  British  Secre- 


170  LIFE    OF   GENERAL    CASS. 

taries  of  State  and  Mr.  Stevenson,  upon  the  subject  herein  refer- 
red to.  From  these  you  will  learn  the  respective  views  of  the 
American  and  British  governments. 

It  is  proper  for  me  to  add,  that  this  communication  has  been 
made  without  any  instructions  from  the  United  States.  I  have 
considered  this  case  as  one  in  which  an  American  representative 
to  a  foreign  power  should  act  without  awaiting  the  orders  of  his. 
government.  I  have  presumed,  in  the  views  I  have  submitted  to 
you,  that  I  express  the  feelings  of  the  American  government  and 
people.  If  in  this  I  have  deceived  myself,  the  responsibility  will 
be  mine.  As  soon  as  I  can  receive  despatches  from  the  United 
States,  in  answer  to  my  communications,  I  shall  be  enabled  to  de- 
clare to  you  either  that  my  conduct  has  been  approved  by  the  Pre- 
sident, or  that  my  mission  is  terminated. 

I  avail  myself,  &,c.  &c. 

LEW.  CASS,  &c. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Effect  of  the  protest  upon  the  action  of  the  French  government,  respecting  the 
Quintuple  Treaty—The  Ashburton  Treaty—Proceedings  of  Gov.  Cass,  on  receiv- 
ing copy  of  treaty — His  correspondence  with  Mr.  Webster,  Secretary  of  State. 

The  frankness  and  boldness  of  Gov.  Cass,  in  laying  this  protest 
before  the  French  government  and  people,  while  it  aroused  the 
anger  of  the  British  government,  deterred  her  from  pursuing  her 
object  in  the  manner  she  commenced.  The  French  chamber  of 
deputies  having  their  attention  awakened  to  an  examination  of  the 
schemes  of  England's  ministers,  refused  to  become  a  party  thereto. 
Anxious  to  retreat  with  some  appearance  of  honor,  and  unwilling 
to  appear  to  the  world,  altogether  unsuccessful  in  her  project,  and 
wishing  to  impress  nations  with  her  sincerity  and  laudable  motives, 
which  suggested  the  Quintuple  Treaty,  England  opened  a  negotia- 
tion with  the  United  States,  on  the  subject,  A  special  minister  was 
sent  to  this  country  with  authority  to  adjust  and  definitely  settle  all 
matters  of  difference  between  the  two  countries.  A  treaty  was  made 
and  concluded,  and  signed  by  Lord  Ashburton,  the  British  am- 
bassador, and  Daniel  Webster,  American  Secretary  of  State.  The 
President  directed  Mr.  Webster,  in  communicating  this  treaty  to 
Gen.  Cass,  in  France,  to  call  his  attention  particularly  to  the 
clauses  relating  to  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave  trade. 
The  provisions  in  regard  to  that  subject,  in  its  connection  with  the 
right  of  search,  as  claimed  by  Great  Britain,  did  not  meet  the 
views  of  Gen.  Cass ;  nor  could  he  consistently  approve  of  them, 
even  so  indirectly,  as  to  retain  his  position  at  the  court  of  St. 
Cloud.  He  considered  that  the  omission  to  procure  a  renunciation 
of  the  .offensive  claim  of  the  English  government,  while  ne'gotia- 
tions  were  pending  upon  the  very  subject,  which  formed  the  pre- 
tended basis  of  the  claim,  placed  him  in  a  false  position,  and  ren- 
dered his  situation  unpleasant  to  him.  Truly  his  conduct  in  de- 
nouncing the  pretension ;  in  arraying  against  it  a  powerful  people 


172  LIFE   OF   GENERAL   CASS. 

and  government,  and  so  preparing  an  easy  and  open  path,  for 
whoever  might  be  charged  with  the  management  of  subsequent 
negotiation,  was  approved  by  the  Executive  of  his  government  ; 
yet  when  the  subject  came  to  be  an  object  of  treaty  arrangement, 
when  it  was  clothed  with  the  solemnity  of  law,  to  be  known  and 
obeyed  by  the  nations  of  the  world,  it  was  of  greater  moment  to 
him,  who  had  stood  forth  alone,  and  with  his  single  arm,  kept  back 
the  stride  of  a  powerful  ministry,  to  supremacy  on  the  great  high- 
way of  the  world,  that  his  course  should  be  approved  by  the  entire 
treaty  making  power  of  his  country,  than  tthat  his  action  should 
rest  upon  the  individual  and  ephemeral  sanction  of  the  President 

Desiring  no  longer,  under  such  circumstances,  a  further  resi- 
dence in  France,  as  the  representative  of  his  country,  he  requested 
permission  to  return  home.  The  President,  acknowledging  the 
loss  to  this  country,  by  the  withdrawal  of  Gen.  Cass,  from  so  im- 
portant a  mission  at  that  crisis,  reluctantly  gave  his  official  consent. 
Gen.  Cass,  on  receipt  of  a  copy  of  the  treaty,  presented 
it  to  the  government  of  France,  with  an  accompanying  let- 
ter from  Mr.  Webster.  Although  disappointed  at  the  omis- 
sion of  those  stipulations,  which  he  regarded  as  of  paramount 
importance,  his  patriotism  and  pride  for  his  country,  would  not 
allow  the  utterance  of  a  word  of  dissent  or  regret  to  escape  him,  at 
a  foreign  court.  But  with  his  own  government  he  felt  his  position 
to  be  different,  and  himself  at  liberty  to  express  to  his  countrymen, 
his  feelings  and  sentiments  without  reserve.  Hence,  arose  the 
celebrated  controversy  between  Gen.  Cass  and  Mr.  Webster,  im- 
mediately preceding,  and  after  the  termination  of  the  official  re- 
lation of  the  former. 

The  letters  of  Gen  Cass,  which  follow,  contain  a  complete  his- 
tory and  examination  of  the  subject  of  controversy,  and  cannot  fail 
to  impress  the  reader  with  the  conviction,  that  his  position  is  truly 
American,  in  principle,  and  is  sustained  by  a  cogency  of  argu- 
ment which  cannot  be  controverted. 

LEGATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  Paris,  October  3,  1842. 
SIR  :  The  last  packet  brought  me  your  letter  of  August  29th, 
announcing  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  and  ac- 
companied by  a  copy  of  it,  and  the  correspondence  between  the 
ministers  charged  with  the  negotiations,  and  directing  me  to  make 
known  to  M.  Guizot  the  sentiments  of  the  American  Government 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  173 

upon  that  part  of  the  treaty  which  provides  for  the  co-operation  of 
the  United  States  in  the  efforts  making  to  suppress  the  African 
slave  trade.  I  thought  I  should  best  fulfil  your  intentions  by  com- 
municating a  copy,  in  extenso,  of  your  letter.  This  I  accordingly 
did  yesterday.  I  trust  I  shall  be  able,  before  my  departure,  to  trans- 
mit to  you  the  acknowledgment  of  its  receipt  by  M.  Guizot. 

In  executing  this  duty,  I  felt  too  well  what  was  due  to  my  go- 
vernment and  country  to  intimate  any  regret  to  a  foreign  power 
that  some  declaration  had  not  preceded  the  treaty,  or  some  stipu- 
•  lation  accompanied  it,  by  which  the  extraordinary  pretension  of 
Great  Britain  to  search  our  ships,  at  all  times  and  in  all  places, 
first  put  forth  to  the  world  by  Lord  Palmerston  on  the  27th  August, 
1841,  and  on  the  13th  October  following,  again  peremptorily  claim- 
ed as  a  right  by  Lord  Aberdeen,  would  have  been  abrogated  as 
equally  incompatible  with  the  laws  of  nations  and  with  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States.  I  confined  myself,  therefore  to  a 
simple  communication  of  your  letter. 

But  this  reserve  ceases  when  I  address  my  own  government,  and, 
connected  as  I  feel  my  official  conduct  and  reputation  with  this 
question  of  the  right  of  search,  I  am  sure  I  shall  find  an  excuse 
for  what  might  otherwise  be  considered  presumption,  if,  as  one  of 
the  last  acts  of  my  official  career,  I  submit  to  you,  and  through 
you  to  the  President,  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which  I  am 
placed  by  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  and  by  the  communication 
of  your  letter  to  M.  Guizot. 

Before  proceeding  further,  however,  permit  me  to  remark  that 
no  one  rejoices  more  sincerely  than  I  do  at  the  termination  of  our 
difficulties  with -Great  Britain,  so  far  as  they  are  terminated.  That 
country  and  ours  have  so  many  moral  and  material  interests  in- 
volved in  their  intercourse,  that  their  respective  governments'and 
inhabitants  may  well  feel  more  than  ordinary  solicitude  for  the  pre- 
servation of  peace  between  these  two  great  nations.  Our  past  his- 
tory, however,  will  be  unprofitable  if  it  do  not  teach  us  that  unjust 
pretensions,  affecting  our  rights  and  honor,  are  best  met  by  being 
promptly  repelled  when  first  urged,  and  by  being  received  in  a 
spirit  of  resistance  worthy  the  character  of  our  people  and  of  the 
great  trust  confided  to  us  as  the  depositaries  of  the  freest  system 
of  government  which  the  world  has  yet  witnessed. 

1  had  the  honor,  in  my  letter  of  the  17th  ultimo,  to  solicit  per- 
mission to  return  to  the  United  States.  That  letter  was  written 
the  day  a  copy  of  the  treaty  reached  Paris,  and  the  remark  which 
I  then  made  to  you,  that  "  I  could  no  longer  be  useful  here,"  has 
been  confirmed  by  subsequent  reflection  and  by  the  receipt  of  your 
letter  and  of  the  correspondence  accompanying  it.  I  feel  that  I 
could  no  longer  remain  here  honorably  for  myself  or  advantageously 
for  our  country. 

In  my  letter  to  you  of  the  15th  February  last,  transmitting  a 
copy  of  my  protest  against  the  ratification  of  the  quintuple  treaty 
for  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave  trade,  I  took  the  liberty  of 


174  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

suggesting  the  propriety  of  demanding  from  Lord  Ashburton,  pre- 
viously to  entering  into  any  negotiation,  a  distinct  renunciation  of 
this  claim  to  search  our  vessels.  I  thought  then,  as  I  do  now,  that 
this  course  was  demanded  by  a  just  self-respect,  and  would  be  sup- 
ported by  that  tribunal  of  public  opinion  which  sustains  our  gov- 
ernment when  right  and  corrects  it  when  wrong.  The  pretension 
itself,  was  one  of  the  most  flagrant  outrages  which  could  be  aimed 
at  an  independent  nation,  and  the  mode  of  its  enunciation  was  as 
coolly  contemptuous  as  diplomatic  ingenuity  could  suggest.  We 
were  told  that,  to  the  doctrine  that  American  vessels  were  free  from 
the  search  of  foreign  cruizers  in  time  of  peace,  "the  British  gov- 
ernment never  could  or  would  subscribe."  And  we  were  told,  too, 
there  was  reason  to  expect  that  the  United  States  would  themselves 
become  converts  to  the  same  opinion ;  and  this  expectation  was 
founded  on  the  hope  that  "they  would  cease  to  confound  two  things 
which  are  in  their  nature  entirely  different,  and  would  look  to 
things  and  not  to  words."  And  the  very  concluding  paragraph  of 
the  British  correspondence  tells  us,  in  effect,  that  we  may  take 
whatever  course  we  please,  but  that  England  will  adhere  to  this 
pretension  to  board  our  vessels  when  and  where  her  cruizers  may 
find  them.  A  portion  of  this  paragraph  is  equally  significative  and 
unceremonious.  "It  is  for  the  American  government,"  says  Lord 
Aberdeen,  "alone  to  determine  what  may  be  due  to  a  just  regard 
for  their  national  dignity  and  national  independence."  I  doubt  if, 
in  the  wide  range  of  modern  diplomacy,  a  more  obnoxious  claim 
has  been  urged  in  a  more  obnoxious  manner. 

This  claim,  thus  asserted  and  supported,  was  promptly  met  and 
firmly  repelled  by  the  President  in  his  message  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  last  session  of  Congress  ;  and  in  your  letter  to  me,  ap- 
proving the  course  I  had  adopted  in  relation  to  the  question  of  the 
ratification  by  France  of  the  quintuple  treaty,  you  consider  the 
principles  of  that  message  as  the  established  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment. Under  these  circumstances  of  the  assertion  and  denial  of 
this  new  claim  of  maritime  police,  the  eyes  of  Europe  were  upon 
these  two  great  naval  powers,  one  of  which  had  advanced  a  preten- 
sion, and  avowed  her  determination  to  enforce  it,  which  might  at 
any  moment  bring  them  into  collision.  So  far  our  national  dignity 
was  uncompromited. 

But  England  then  urged  the  United  States  to  enter  into  a  con- 
ventional arrangement,  by  which  we  might  be  pledged  to  concur 
with  her  in  measures  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade.  Till 
then,  we  had  executed  our  own  laws  in  our  own  way.  But  yield- 
ing to  this  application,  and  departing  from  our  former  principle  of 
avoiding  European  combinations  upon  subjects  not  American,  we 
stipulated,  in  a  solemn  treaty,  that  we  would  carry  into  effect  our 
own  laws,  and  fixed  the  minimum  force  we  would  employ  for  that 
purpose.  Certainly,  a  laudable  desire  to  terminate  this  horrible 
man-stealing  and  man-selling,  may  well  justify  us  in  going  further, 
in  changing  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  policy,  in 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 


175 


order  to  effect  this  object,  than  we  would  go  to  effect  any  other. 
It  is  so  much  more  a  question  of  feeling  than  of  reasoning,  that 
we  can  hardly  be  wrong  in  yielding  to  that  impulse,  which  leads 
us  to  desire  to  unite  our  efforts  with  those  of  other  nations  for  the 
protection  of  the  most  sacred  human  rights.  But  while  making  so 
important  a  concession  to  the  renewed  application  of  England,  it 
seems  to  me  we  might  well  have  said  to  her,  "before  we  treat  upon 
this  matter,  there  is  a  preliminary  question  connected  with  it, 
which  must  be  settled.  We  will  do  no  act  which  may,  by  any  pos- 
sibility, appear  to  be  a  recognition  of  your  claim  to  search  our  ves- 
sels. That  claim  has  arisen  out  of  this  very  subject,  or  at  any 
rate,  this  subject  has  been  the  pretext  for  its  assertion,  and  if  we 
now  negotiate  upon  it,  and  our  concurrence  is  yielded,  you  must 
relinquish,  as  solemnly  as  you  have  announced,  this  most  offensive 
pretension.  If  this  is  not  done,  by  now  making  a  conventional 
arrangement  with  you,  and  leaving  you  free  to  take  your  own 
course,  we  shall,  in  effect,  abandon  the  ground  we  have  assumed, 
and  with  it  our  rights  and  honor." 

In  carefully  looking  at  the  seventh   and  eighth  articles  of  the 
treaty,  providing  for  our  co-operation  in  the  measures  for  the  sup- 
pression of  this  traffic,  I  do  not  see  that  they  change,  in  the  slight- 
est degree,  the  pre-existing  right  claimed  by  Great  Britain  to  arrest 
and  search  our  vessels.     That  claim,  as  advanced  both  by  Lord 
Palmerston  and  Lord  Aberdeen,  rested  on  the  assumption  that  the 
treaties  between  England  and  other  European  powers  upon  this 
subject,  could  not  be  executed  without  its  exercise,   and  that  the 
happy  concurrence  of  these  powers  not  only  justified  this  exercise, 
but  rendered  it  indispensable.     By  the  recent  treaty,  we   are  to 
keep  a  squadron  upon  the   coast  of  Africa.     We  have  kept  one 
there  for  years,  during  the  whole  term,  indeed,  of  these  efforts  to 
put  a  stop  to  this  most  iniquitous  commerce.     The  effect  of  the 
treaty  is,  therefore,  to  render  it  obligatory  upon  us  by  a  conven- 
tion to  do  what  we  have  long  done  voluntarily  ;  to  place  our  mu- 
nicipal laws,  in  some  measure,  beyond  the  reach  of  Congress;  and 
to  increase  the  strength  of  the  squadron  employed   on    this  duty. 
But  if  a  British  cruiser  meet  a  vessel  bearing  the  American  flag, 
where  there  is  no  American  ship  of  war  to  examine  her,  it  is  obvi- 
ous, that  it  is  quite  as  indispensable  and  justifiable,  that  the  cruiser 
should  search  this   vessel  to  ascertain  her  nationality,  since  the 
conclusion  of  the  treaty  as  it  was  before.     The  mutual  rights  of  the 
parties  are  in  this  respect  wholly  untouched  ;  their  pretensions  ex- 
ist in  full  force ;  and  what  they  could  do  prior  to  this  arrangement 
they  may  now  do ;  for  though  they  have    respectively  sanctioned 
the  employment  of  a  force  to  give  effect  "to  the  laws,  rights,   and 
obligations  of  the  two  countries,"  yet  they  have  not  prohibited  the 
use  of  any  other  measure  which  either  party  may  be  disposed  to 
It  is  unnecessary  to  push  these  considerations  further ;  and  in 
carrying  them  thus  far,  I  have  found  the  task  an  unpleasant  one. 
Nothing  but  justice  to  myself  could  have  induced  me  to  do  it.    I 


176  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

could  not  clearly  explain  my  position  here,  without  this  recapitula- 
tion. My  protest  of  13th  February  distinctly  asserted  that  the 
United  States  would  resist  the  pretensions  of  England  to  search 
our  vessels.  I  avowed,  at  the  same  time,  that  this  was  but  my  per- 
sonal declaration,  liable  to  be  confirmed  or  disavowed  by  my  go- 
vernment. I  now  find  a  treaty  has  been  concluded  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  which  provides  for  the  co-operation 
of  the  latter  in  efforts  to  abolish  the  slave  trade,  but  which  contains 
no  renunciation  by  the  former  of  the  extraordinary  pretension,  re- 
sulting, as  she  said,  from  the  exigencies  of  these  very  efforts,  and 
which  pretension  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  denounce  to  the  French  go- 
vernment. In  all  this,  I  presume  to  offer  no  further  judgment  than 
as  I  am  personally  affected  by  the  course  of  the  proceedings ;  and  I 
feel  they  have  placed  me  in  a  false  position,  whence  I  cannot  escape 
but  by  returning  home  with  the  least  possible  delay.  I  trust,  there- 
fore, that  the  President  will  have  felt  no  hesitation  in  granting  me 
the  permission  which  I  asked  for. 

T  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

LEW.  CASS. 
Hon  DANIEL  WEBSTER, 

Secretary  of  State,  Washington. 

NEW-YORK,  December  llth,  1843. 

SIR  :  Upon  my  arrival  here  yesterday,  the  duplicate  of  your  let- 
ter of  November  llth  was  delivered  to  me.  I  embrace  the  first 
moment  in  my  power  to  acknowledge  its  receipt. 

I  am  too  well  aware  of  what  is  due  from  me  to  the  government 
to  renew,  or  unnecessarily  to  prolong,  the  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject contained  in  my  letter  of  October  3d.  In  submitting  to  you 
the  views  I  entertained,  I  fulfilled  a  duty  which,  in  my  opinion, 
circumstances  imposed  upon  me.  But  I  should  consider  myself 
obnoxious  to  the  censure  of  improper  interference,  with  which  you 
have  not  sparingly  reproached  me,  but  from  which  I  trust  I  shall 
satisfy  you  I  am  free,  did  I  seek  to  make  my  correspondence  with 
the  department  the  vehicle  for  obtruding  my  sentiments  upon  the 
government.  Still  I  am  anxious  not  to  be  misunderstood,  and 
more  especially  since  you  give  me  to  understand  that  the  commu- 
nications which  have  passed  between  us  upon  this  subject  are  to 
be  published,  and  thus  submitted  to  the  great  tribunal  of  public 
opinion,  which  will  be  called  upon  to  decide  respecting  the  course 
I  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  adopt,  as  well  as  the  manner  in  which 
I  have  fulfilfed  the  task.  And  as  you  have  in  several  instances 
misapprehended  my  views,  and  adapted  your  reasoning  to  your 
constructions,  rather  than  to  my  sentiments,  and  as  I  have  full 
confidence  in  your  desire  to  do  me  justice,  I  must  beg  leave  briefly 
to  lay  before  you  such  considerations  connected  with  my  letter, 
and  your  comments  upon  it,  as  are  essential  to  a  correct  judgment 
between  us. 

And,  first,  with  respect  to  the  procedure  on  my  part. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CAS8.  1<7 

You  object  to  my  whole  course  of  action  in  this  matter,  because 
it  appears  to  you  to  be  "intended  as  a  sort  of  protest  or  remon- 
strance against  a  transaction  of  the  government,"  &,c. 

I  have  been  very  unhappy  in  the  mode  in  which  I  have  expressed 
myself,  if  1  am  justly  liable  to  this  charge.  My  letter  is  not  a  pro- 
test or  remonstrance.  It  is  a  simple  answer  to  a  dispatch  which 
I  had  the  honor  to  receive  from  you.  In  your  letter  of  August  29th, 
you  commnnicated  to  me  the  views  of  the  President  in  relation  to 
the  treaty  then  recently  concluded  with  England;  and  you  also  au- 
thorized me  to  make  known  these  views  to  the  French  govern- 
ment. This  I  did,  both  in  conversation  and  in  writing.  Here  was 
a  dispatch  requiring  my  action,  and  which  received  it  in  good  faith. 
But  i  did  not  coincide  with  you  in  opinion  respecting  an  impor- 
tant bearing  of  this  treaty,  i  thought  it  left  us  in  a  worse  position 
than  it  found  us ;  and  so  thinking,  I  deemed  it  my  right,  and  felt 
it  my  duty,  to  lay  before  you  the  impression  which  the  whole  mat- 
ter had  left  upon  my  mind.  I  did  so,  and  the  result  is  before  you. 
Under  these  circumstances,  was  I  guilty  of  indiscretion,  or  of  an 
impertinent  interference,  still  more  offensive,  which,  it  seems  to 
me,  from  the  tone  of  your  letter,  is  the  construction  you  put  upon 
my  action  ? 

This  question  will  perhaps  be  best  answered  by  another.  Is  it 
the  duty  of  a  diplomatic  agent  to  receive  all  the  communications 
of  his  government,  and  to  carry  into  effect  their  instructions,  sub 
silentio,  whatever  may  be  his  own  sentiments  in  relation  to  them  ? 
Or,  is  he  not  bound,  as  a  faithful  representative,  to  communicate 
freely  but  respectfully  his  own  views,  that  these  may  be  considered 
and  receive  their  due  weight  in  that  particular  case,  or  in  other 
circumstances  involving  similar  considerations?  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  bare  renunciation  of  the  principle  is  all  that  is  necessary 
for  my  justification.  I  am  speaking  now  of  the  propriety  of  my 
action,  not  of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  performed.  I  may  have 
executed  the  task  well  or  ill ;  I  may  have  introduced  topics  unad- 
visedly, and  urged  them  indiscreetly.  All  this  I  leave  without  re- 
mark, I  am  only  endeavoring  here  to  free  myself  from  the  seri- 
ous charge  which  you  bring  against  me.  If  1  have  misapprehen- 
ded the  duties  of  an  American  diplomatic  agent  upon  this  subject, 
I  am  well  satisfied  to  have  withdrawn,  by  a  timely  resignation,  from 
a  position  in  which  my  own  self-respect  would  not  permit  me  to 
remain.  And  I  may  express  the  conviction  that  there  is  no  govern- 
ment, certainly  none  this  side  of  Constantinople,  which  would  not 
encourage,  rather  than  rebuke,  the  free  expression  of  the  views  of 
their  representatives  in  foreign  countries.  But,  independently  of 
this  general  objection  to  all  action  on  my  part,  you  present  me  with 
another,  perhaps  still  more  formidable,  but  which  is  applicable  only 
to  the  circumstances  of  this  case.  Without  repeating  in  full  the 
view  you  urge  upon  this  part  of  the  subject,  I  shall  condense  the 
objection  into  the  proposition  that  the  expression  of  my  sentiments 
to  the  government  upon  this  occasion  might  induce  England  here- 

12 


178  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

after  "to  rely  upon  my  authority  for  a  construction  favorable  to  her 
own  pretensions,  and  inconsistent  with  the  interest  and  honor  of 
the  United  States." 

In  the  first  place,  I  would  remark  that  I  have  written  for  my  own 
government,  and  not  for  that  of  England.  The  publication  of  my 
letter  which  is  to  produce  this  result  is  to  be  the  act  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  not  my  act.  But  if  the  President  should  think  that  the 
slightest  injury  to  the  public  interest  \\ould  ensue  from  the  disclo- 
sure of  my  views,  the  letter  may  be  buried  in  the  archives  of  the 
department,  and  thus  forgotten  and  rendered  harmless. 

But  even  were  immediate  publicity  to  be  given  to  it,  I  know  my 
own  insignificance  too  well  to  believe  it  would  produce  the  slightest 
influence  upon  the  pretensions  or  the  course  of  England.  The 
English  public,  and  especially  the  statesmen,  are  too  sagacious  to 
need  the  suggestions  of  any  foreigner,  and  too  pertinacious 
in  the  assertion  of  their  claims  to  seek  his  authority  for  their 
support.  When  England,  in  her  progress  to  that  supremacy 
upon  the  ocean,  which  has  been  the  steady  object  of  her  ambition 
for  centuries,  and  will  continue  to  be  so,  abandons  a  single  preten- 
sion, after  she  has  once  advanced  it,  then  there  may  be  reason  to 
believe  she  has  adopted  a  system  of  mdderation,  which  may  be 
strengthened  or  weakened,  as  the  opinion  of  others  is  favorable  or 
unfavorable  to  her.  There  is  no  evidence  that  that  time  is  near. 
But  were  it  otherwise,  does  it  follow  that  in  all  discussions  between 
nations  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  believe  his  own  government 
has  attained  every  object  which  the  interest  or  honor  of  the  coun- 
try requires,  or  not  believing  it,  to  remain  silent,  and  to  refrain 
from  all  representations,  either  to  the  government  itself,  or  to  the 
public,  with  a  view  to  the  ultimate  correction  of  the  error,  and  to 
the  relief  of  his  country  from  a  false  position?  I  must  confess  I 
do  not  carry  my  patriotic  devotion  thus  far.  I  agree,  that  when 
nations  have  appealed  from  argument  to  force,  and  when  a  war  is 
raging,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  put  all  other  considera- 
tions behind  him,  and,  avoiding  profitless  and  party  discussions  up- 
on the  past,  to  join  with  head,  heart  and  hand,  to  repel  the  com- 
mon foe.  At  such  a  time,  I  would  not  speak  words  of  censure 
even  to  my  countrymen,  lest  I  should  be  overheard  by  the  enemy. 
And  that  this  is  not  with  me  a  barren  doctrine,  I  trust  I  have  given 
sufficient  evidence  in  perilous  times.  But  I  was  not  prepared  for 
that  excess  of  patriotic  zeal  (pardon  me  the  expression,  for  such  it 
appears  to  me)  which  would  carry  this  reserve  into  all  the  actions 
of  the  government,  as  well  in  peace  as  in  war.  I  believe  that  in 
our  recent  treaty  with  England,  sufficient  precaution  was  not  taken 
to  guard  against  her  claim  to  search  our  ships.  This  belief  1  en- 
tertain in  common  with  many  other  citizens,  in  office  and  out  of 
office  ;  and  I,  as  well  as  they,  have  expressed  it.  It  has  been  de- 
clared in  the  Senate,  in  the  public  journals,  in  every  district  of  our 
country.  And  I  cannot  feel  that  this  avowal  of  our  sentiments,  in 
whatever  form  it  is  made,  whether  official  or  unofficial,  justly  sub- 


LtPE    OF   GENERAL   CASS. 

jects  us  to  the  charge  of  taking  a  course  which  may  hereafter  ena- 
ble other  governments  to  "sefcup  new  pretensions." 

Permit  me  now  to  advert  to  the  serious  charge  you  have  made 
against  me,  of  venturing  upon  a  statement,  which  is  a  tissue  of 
mistakes.  This  statement  you  quote,  and  it  is  that  part  of  my  let- 
ter in  which,  after  showing  that,  to  a  certain  point  of  time,  our 
national  honor  had  been  preserved  inviolate,  I  proceed  to  show 
that  the  subsequent  course  of  events  had  not  been  equally  fortu- 
nate. I  remark,  that  England  never  urged  the  United  States  to 
enter  into  a  conventional  arrangement  by  which  the  joint  action,  of 
the  two  countries  in  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  might  be 
secured.  You  pronounce  this  statement  a  mistake,  and  assert  that 
the  proposition  came  from  our  government. 

That  the  particular  mode,  in  which  the  government  should  act 
in  concert,  is  finally  arranged  in  the  treaty,  was  suggested  by 
yourself,  I  never  doubted.  And,  if  this  is  the  construction  I  am 
to  give  to  your  denial  of  my  correctness,  there  is  no  difficulty  upon 
the  subject.  The  question  between  us  is  untouched.  All  I  said 
was,  that  England  continued  to  prosecute  the  matter,  that  she  pre- 
sented it  for  negotiation,  and  that  we,  therefore,  consented  to  its 
introduction.  And  if  Lord  Ashburton  did  not  come  out  with  in- 
structions from  his  government  to  endeavor  to  effect  some  arrange- 
ment upon  this  subject,  the  world  has  strangely  misunderstood  one 
of  the  great  objects  of  his  mission  ;  and  I  have  misunderstood  that 
paragraph  in  your  first  note,  where  you  say  that  Lord  Ashburton 
comes  with  full  powers  to  negotiate  and  settle  all  matters  in  dis~- 
cussion  between  England  and  the  United  States.  But  the  very- 
fact  of  his  coming  here,  and  of  his  acceding  to  any  stipulations 
respecting  the  slave  trade,  is  conclusive  proof,  that  his  government 
were  desirous  to  obtain  the  co-operation  of  the  United  States.  I 
had  supposed  our  government  would  scarcely  take  the  initiative  iu 
this  matter,  and  urge  it  upon  that  of  Great  Britain,  either  in  Wash- 
ington or  in  London.  If  it  did  so,  1  can  only  express  my  regret, 
and  confess  that  I  have  been  led  inadvertently  into  an  error. 

You  then  proceed  to  remark,  in  continuation  of  this  tissue  of 
mistakes,  that,  in  entering  into  this  arrangement,  the  United  States 
did  not  depart  from  the  principle  of  avoiding  European  combina- 
tions upon  a  subject  not  American,  because  the  abolition  of  the 
slave  trade  is  equally  an  American  and  European  subject.  This 
may  be  so  ;  I  may  be  wrong  in  the  application  of  the  principle. 
But  such  an  erroneous  conclusion  scarcely  justifies  the  epithet  of 
an  adventurous  statement,  one  of  a  tissue  of  mistakes.  But,  apart 
from  this,  I  still  think  that  combinations  of  this  kind  are  among 
the  "entangling  alliances,"  against  which  the  great  statesman, 
whose  expositton  of  our  constitution  will  go  down  to  posterity  with 
the  instrument  itself,  warned  his  countrymen.  And  the  perpe- 
tually recurring  difficulties  which  are  presenting  themselves  in  the 
execution  of  the  conventions  between  France  and  England  upon 
this  subject  should  be  a  caution  to  nations  against  the  introduction 


180  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

of  new  maritime  principles,  whose  operations  and  results  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  foresee. 

But  is  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave  trade  one  of  those 
American  objects,  in  the  attainment  of  which  we  ought  to  seek  the 
co-operation  of  other  nations,  and  regulate  our  own  duties  and 
theirs  by  treaty  stipulations  ?  I  do  not  think  so.  In  the  first  place, 
the  principle  would  necessarily  lead  us  to  form  alliances  with  every 
maritime  nation.  It  is  not  England  alone  whose  flag  rides  over 
the  seas.  Other  countries  must  co-operate,  if  any  co-operation  is 
necessary.  And  if  we  have  made  propositions  to  England  to  join 
us  in  this  effort,  I  do  not  see  why  we  stop  there  and  deprive  our- 
selves of  the  aid  which  the  action  of  other  nations  would  afford. 
I  doubt  if  the  people  of  this  country  are  prepared  for  such  exten- 
sive combinations. 

But  again,  while  fully  agreeing  with  you  in  all  the  odium  you 
cast  upon  that  infamous  traffic,  it  appears  to  me  that  any  object 
interesting  to  humanity,  and  in  which  nations  may  with  propriety 
engage,  has  the  same  claim,  if  not  in  degree,  at  least  in  principle, 
upon  our  interference,  and  calls  upon  us  for  a  union  with  other  na- 
tibns  to  effect  it.  It  may  be  easily  seen,  not  where  such  a  doctrine 
would  conduct  us,  that  escapes  human  sagacity,  but  toward  what 
ruinous  consequences  it  leads. 

You  conclude  this  branch  of  the  subject,  by  informing  me  that 
you  are  directed  by  the  President  to  bring  to  my  "serious  consid- 
eration and  reflection  the  propriety  of  such  an  assumed  narration 
of  facts,  as  your  dispatch  in  this  respect  puts  forth." 

I  shall  not  say  one  word  to  give  the  President  any  cause  of  of- 
fence, and  if  I  felt  that  I  was  justly  obnoxious  to  this  censure,  I 
should  submit  to  the  rebuke  in  silence.  He  would  have  a  right  to 
make  it,  and  it  would  be  my  duty  to  acquiesce.  But  I  have  that 
confidence  in  his  innate  love  of  justice,  that  he  will  receive  my 
explanations,  and  judge  me  by  my  words,  and  not  by  unauthorized 
constructions. 

Now,  in  all  that  I  have  said  in  the  paragraph  to  which  you  al- 
lude, and  which  you  have  so  strongly  qualified,  you  have  pointed 
out  but  one  fact,  as  erroneous,  and  that  is  the  assertion,  that  the 
introduction  of  the  subject  of  the  slave  trade  into  the  treaty  was 
due  to  the  application  of  England.  And  whether  even  this  was  an 
error  depends  upon  the  construction  to  be  given  to  your  explana- 
tion. All  else,  I  repeat  it,  all  else,  to  the  very  least  idea,  is  matter 
of  inference.  It  is  my  deduction  from  the  circumstances  of  the 
case.  I  may  be  right  or  wrong,  logically,  in  the  conclusions  I 
have  reached  ;  but  certainly  I  am  not  morally  responsible  for  their 
correctness,  as  I  should  be  if  I  asserted  merely  naked  facts.  It  is, 
therefore,  with  not  a  little  astonishment  I  have  read  and  re-read 
what  I  wrote,  and  the  commentary  you  have  been  pleased  to  make 
upon  it.  It  is  neither  necessary  nor  proper  that  I  should  renew 
the  general  subject  of  my  letter,  and  therefore  I  do  not  feel  it  my 
duty  to  trouble  you  with  any  remarks  respecting  the  riews  you 


LIFE    OF   GENERAL   CASS.  181 

have  presented  me  of  the  pretensions  of  the  British  government  to 
search  our  ships.  But  when  you  proceed  to  array  me  against  my- 
self, I  must  claim  the  right  to  vindicate  my  own  consistency.  You 
quote  me,  and  quote  me  correctly,  as  saying,  that,  up  to  the  deli- 
very of  the  annual  message  of  1841,  our  national  dignity  was  un- 
compromitted.  You  then  ask  what  has  since  occurred  to  compro- 
mit  this  dignity,  and  you  add  emphatically  that  I  shall  myself  be 
the  judge  of  this,  because  in  a  subsequent  part  of  my  dispatch  I 
say  the  mutual  rights  of  the  parties  are  wholly  unchanged.  And 
you  ask,  if  they  are  unchanged,  what  ground  there  is  on  which  to 
found  a  complaint  against  the  treaty.  I  think  that  a  very  brief  re- 
trospect will  be  the  best  answer  I  can  give  to  this  question,  and 
that  it  will  redeem  me  from  the  implied  charge  of  inconsistency. 

I  never  said  nor  intimated  in  my  dispatch  to  you,  nor  in  any 
manner  whatever,  that  our  government  had  conceded  to  that  of 
England  the  right  to  search  our  ships.  That  idea,  however,  per- 
vades your  letter,  and  is  very  apparent  in  that  part  of  it  which 
brings  to  my  observation  the  possible  effect  of  my  views  upon  the 
English  government.  But  in  this  you  do  me,  though  I  am  sure 
unintentionally,  great  injustice.  I  repeatedly  state,  that  the  recent 
treaty  leaves  the  rights  of  the  parties  as  it  found  them.  My  diffi- 
culty is  not  that  we  have  made  a  positive  concession,  but  that  we 
haVe  acted  unadvisedly  in  not  making  the  abandonment  of  this 
pretension  a  previous  condition  to  any  conventional  arrangement 
upon  the  general  subject.  I  had  supposed,  till  I  read  your  letter, 
that  this  view  was  too  distinctly  expressed  in  my  dispatch  to  admit 
of  any  misconstruction.  I  will  condense  into  a  small  space  what 
I  deem  it  necessary  to  say  in  defence  of  my  consistency. 

England  claimed  the  right,  in  order  as  she  said,  to  carry  into 
effect  certain  treaties  she  had  formed  for  the  suppression  of  the 
slave  trade,  to  board  and  search  our  vessels  upon  the  high  seas, 
wherever  she  might  find  them.  Our  government,  with  energy  and 
promptness,  repelled  this  pretension.  Shortly  after,  a  special  Bri- 
tish ambassador  arrived  in  our  country,  having  powers  to  treat  up- 
on this  matter  of  the  slave  trade.  The  negotiation  terminated  by 
an  arrangement  which  secures  the  co-operation  of  the  United 
States  in  the  efforts  that  England  is  making  upon  this  subject.  But 
not  a  word  is  said  upon  the  serious  claim  that  subjects  to  the  naval 
inquisition  of  a  commercial  rival  our  ships,  which  the  enterprise 
of  our  merchants  is  sending  to  every  part  of  the  globe.  And  yet 
this  claim  arises  out  of  the  very  subject  matter  embraced  in  this 
treaty.  We  negotiate  with  England  for  the  suppression  of  the 
slave  trade,1  at  the  very  moment  her  statesmen  are  telling  us  in  no 
measured  terms,  that  to  suppress  it  she  will  violate  our  flag,  and 
that  she  will  never  give  up  this  pretension.  Now  here  it  appears 
to  me  the  government  should  have  stopped.  The  English  negotia- 
tor should  have  been  told,  "We  abhor  as  much  as  you  do  the  traffic 
in  human  beings,  and  we  will  do  all  that  our  peculiar  institutions 
permit  to  put  an  end  to  it.  But  we  will  not  suffer  this  matter  to 


182  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

be  made  the  pretext  for  wounding  our  honor  and  violating  our 
rights.  We  will  not  take  a  single  step  till  you  renounce  this  claim. 
We  have  denounced  it  already,  and  if  we  should  negotiate  upon 
the  subject  matter  without  settling  this  preliminary  question,  it  may 
seem  like  an  abandonment  of  the  ground  we  have  taken,  or  an  in- 
difference to  the  consequences." 

Had  this  course  been  pursued,  the  sincerity  of  the  British  go- 
vernment would  have  undergone  a  practical  test,  from  which  there 
would  have  been  no  escape.  It  would  not  have  been  necessary  to 
quote  the  last  dispatch  of  Lord  Aberdeen  to  show  what  he  meant 
in  another,  or  Lord  Palmerston  in  the  first.  If  such  a  proposition 
had  been  made  and  accepted,  our  honor  would  have  been  vindica- 
ted, our  rights  secured,  and  a  bright  example  of  sincerity  and  mo- 
deration would  have  been  given  to  the  world  by  a  great  nation. 
If  it  had  been  rejected,  that  would  have  proved  that  our  co-opera- 
tion in  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  was  a  question  of  minor 
importance,  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  preservation  of  a  pretension  in- 
tended to  introduce  an  entire  change  in  the  maritime  police  of  the 
world. 

Why  this  very  obvious  course  was  not  adopted,  I  am  utterly  at 
a  loss  to  conjecture  ;  and  that  it  was  not,  is  precisely  the  objection 
to  which  the  whole  arrangement  is  liable.  Instead  of  the  high 
ground  we  should  then  have  occupied,  we  now  find  ourselves  seri- 
ously discussing  the  question,  whether  or  not  England  will  enforce 
this  claim.  That  she  will  do  so  when  her  interest  requires  it,  I 
have  no  more  doubt  than  I  have  that  she  has  already  given  us  abun- 
dant proof  that  the  received  code  of  public  law  is  but  a  feeble  bar- 
rier when  it  stands  in  the  way  of  power  and  ambition.  Lord  Pal- 
merston and  Lord  Aberdeen  both  tell  us  she  will. 

You  refe:  to  that  part  of  my  letter  in  which  I  observe  that  the 
effect  of  the  new  stipulation  is  to  place  our  municipal  laws  in  some 
measure  beyond  the  reach  of  Congress,  and  remark  that  such  is 
often  the  effect  of  commercial  treaties.  It  is  so,  and  we  can  only 
expect  to  obtain  commercial  advantages  by  stipulations  for  corres- 
ponding advantages,  which,  while  they  endure,  are  beyond  the 
reach  of  ordinary  legislation.  This  is  matter  of  necessity.  But 
this  necessity  does  not  exist  in  the  punishment  of  crimes.  We 
are  able  to  enforce  our  own  laws  ;  and  I  do  not  see  that  the  power 
to  enforce  those  of  England  gives  us  any  just  compensation  for 
permitting  her  to  interfere  in  our  criminal  code,  whether  the  of- 
fence is  committed  upon  the  land  or  upon  the  water.  It  seems  to 
me  a  principle  fraught  with  dangerous  consequences,  and  which  a 
prudent  government  had  better  avoid. 

There  is  but  one  other  topic  which  I  consider  it  necessary  to 
advert  to,  but  that  is  an  important  one,  and  I  pray  your  indulgence 
while  I  briefly  allude  to  it. 

You  speak  of  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  by  the  President  and 
Senate,  and  add  that  it  does  not  appear  to  you  that  I  had  any 
grounds  of  complaint  because  their  opinion  was  at  variance  with 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  Io3 

mine.  I  submit  that  this  is  making  an  issue  for  me  which  I  have 
not  made  for  myself.  In  no  part  of  my  letter  will  be  found  the 
slightest  imputation  upon  the  President  or  Senate  for  the  ratifica- 
tion of  this  treaty.  I  could  not  make  such  an  imputation  for  the 
plain  reason  that  I  never  censured  the  ratification.  I  am  under 
the  impression,  iff  had  a  vote  to  give,  I  should  have  been  found  with 
the  majority  upon  that  occasion.  .  This,  however,  would  have  been 
upon  the  condition  that  some  declaration  should  be  annexed  to  the 
act  cf  ratification  denouncing  the  pretension  to  search  our  ships. 
I  would  then  have  sent  the  instrument  to  the  British  government, 
and  placed  upon  them  the  responsibility  of  its  final  rejection  or 
ratification  ;  and  I  am  sure  we  should  have  had  the  opinion  of  the 
world  with  us  under  such  circumstances. 

The  rejection  of  a  treaty  duly  negotiated,  is  a  serious  question ; 
to  be  avoided  whenever  it  can  be  without  too  great  a  sacrifice. 
Though  the  national  faith  is  not  actually  committed,  still  it  is  more 
or  less  engaged ;  and  there  were  peculiar  circumstances,  growing 
out  of  long  standing  difficulties,  which  rendered  an  amicable 
agreement  of  the  various  matters  in  dispute  with  England  a  subject 
of  great  national  interest.  But  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty  is  a  far 
different  subject.  Topics  are  omitted  or  introduced  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  negotiators,  and  they  are  responsible,  to  use  the  lan- 
guage of  an  eminent  and  able  Senator,  for  "  what  it  contains  and 
what  it  omits."  This  treaty,  in  my  opinion,  omits  a  most  impor- 
tant and  necessary  stipulation,  and  therefore  as  it  seems  to  me,  its 
negotiation  in  this  particular  was  unfortunate  for  the  country. 

In  conclusion,  I  beg  you  to  tender  to  the  President  my  thanks 
for  the  kind  appreciation  he  made  of  my  services  in  the  letter  of 
recall,  and  to  express  to  him  my  hope  that,  on  a  full  consideration 
of  the  circumstances,  he  will  be  satisfied  that  if  my  course  was  not 
one  he  can  approve,  it  at  all  events  was  such  as  to  relieve  me  from 
the  charge  of  an  improper  interference  in  a  subject  not  within  the 
sphere  of  my  duties. 

I  must  pray  you,  as  an  act  of  justice,  to  give  the  same  publicity 
to  this  letter  that  you  may  give  to  my  letter  of  October  3d  and  to 
your  answer. 

Very  respectfully,  sir,  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

LEW.  CASS. 

HON.  DANIEL  WEBSTER,  Secretary  of  State. 

The  foregoing  letters  were  made  public  by  a  call  of  the  Senate 
upon  the  President  for  the  correspondence  relating  to  the  quintu- 
ple treaty.  When  Gen.  Cass  was  at  Washington,  upon  his  return 
to  this  country,  which  was  after  the  receipt  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  of  his  letter  of  December  llth  1842,  he  was  under  the  im- 
pression that  the  controversy  between  himself  and  Mr.  Webster  was 
terminated.  He  was  therefore  greatly  surprised  by  the  receipt  at 


184  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

Detroit,  of  a  communication  from  Mr.  Webster,  on  the  7th  of 
March  1843,  post  marked  Washington,  February  23rd  1843,  and 
bearing  date  December  20th  1842,  at  which  last  date  Gen.  Cass 
was  at  Washington,  and  having  there  received  no  answer,  or  inti- 
mation that  there  would  be  one  to  his  letter  of  December  llth 
1842,  he  considered,  and  so  stated  that  the  controversy  was  closed. 
It  seems  that  Mr.  Webster,  desiring  to  have  the  last  word,  pre- 
pared and  published  with  the  official  correspondence,  a  reply  to 
Gen.  Cass'  letter  of  December  llth,  which  was  not  seen  by  the 
General  until  the  following  March,  and  to  which  he  had  no  oppor- 
tunity of  replying  prior  to  the  authoritative  call  of  the  Senate  for 
the  correspondence.  This  somewhat  singular  and  disingenuous 
proceeding  of  Mr.  Webster,  compelled  Gen.  Cass  to  appear  again 
before  the  public  with  a  letter  in  reply.  In  this  letter,  which  is 
here  given  at  length,  the  positions  of  Mr.  Webster  are  examined 
and  dissected ;  his  arguments  analyzed  and  demonstrated  to  be 
untenable.  The  impression  produced  by  this  letter  generally  in  the 
minds  of  the  people,  was  that  more  care  in  the  negotiation  of  the 
treaty,  a  more  strict  and  energetic  requirement  by  the  Secretary 
of  State  of  certain  disavowals  and  acknowledgements  by  the  En- 
glish ambassador,  would  have  rendered  the  treaty  more  consistent 
with  the  position  assumed  and  maintained  by  our  government  in 
regard  to  the  right  of  search. 

LETTER  FROM  LEWIS  CASS, 

Late  American  Minister  at  Paris,  to  Daniel  Webster,  Secretary 
of  State,  on  the  Right  of  Search,  Dated  March  7th  1843. 

DETROIT,  March  7th  184:5. 

SIR  :  I  have  just  received  your  letter  dated  December  20,  1842, 
and  postmarked  "  Washington,  February  23,  1843,"  which  com- 
mences by  stating  that  my  letter  of  the  llth  instant  (that  is,  my 
letter  of  December  llth  1842)  had  been  submitted  to  the  President. 

I  had  no  desire  to  continue  the  correspondence,  which  has  aris- 
en between  us.  I  had  said  all  I  felt  called  upon  to  say  in  my  own 
defence,  and  I  had  determined  there  to  leave  the  subject.  This 
determination  I  expressed  to  you  immediately  before  I  left  Wash- 
ington in  January,  when  you  intimated  tome,  that  you  should  prob- 
ably answer  my  letter  of  December  llth.  I  should  not  have  de- 
parted from  this  resolution,  had  I  not  felt  it  due  to  myself,  that 
the  actual  date  of  the  receipt  of  your  letter  should  be  established. 

I  have  reason  to  suppose,  that  the  correspondence  between  us,. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  185 

has  ere  this  been  submitted  to  Congress,  and  that  it  will  thus  come 
before  the  nation.  Your  late  letter  has  no  doubt  made  part  of 
these  documents,  and  persons  reading  it  may  well  suppose  it  was 
written  the  twentieth  of  December  last,  and  received  by  me  while 
I  was  yet  at  Washington. 

The  error  will,  no  doubt,  be  readily  explained  at  the  department, 
for  I  need  hardly  say  I  am  sure  it  was  unintentional.  But  in  the 
meantime  it  may  do  me  serious  injury ;  for  while  at  the  seat  of 
government,  where  this  correspondence  was  well  known,  I  more 
than  once  stated  that  my  letter  of  December  eleventh  was  un- 
answered. 

It  is  essential,  therefore,  to  me  that  it  should  be  known,  that  this 
statement  was  true,  and  this  can  only  be  done  by  spreading  the 
correction  as  widely  as  the  error  has  been  spread. 

This  is  my  first  and  principle  reason  for  writing  you,  and  with- 
out this  reason  I  doubt  if  I  should  have  broken  the  silence  I  intend- 
ed to  keep,  though  there  are  passages  in  your  letter,  that  might 
well  have  induced  me  to  depart  from  this  resolution.  The  cor- 
respondence has  already  grown  to  an  unreasonable  length,  and  I 
am  very  unwilling  to  prolong  it;  but  as  I  am  compelled  to  write, 
from  the  circumstances  adverted  to,  I  shall,  without  further  apolo- 
gy, proceed  to  examine  some  of  the  topics  presented  in  your  last 
letter,  and  also  to  call  to  your  observation  some  very  offensive  re- 
marks contained  in  your  despatch  of  November  fourteenth,  and,  to 
my  surprise,  repeated  in  the  recent  one.  Before  doing  this  how- 
ever, I  shall  advert  to  one  view  presented  in  the  November  letter, 
and  which  the  haste,  with  which  my  reply  was  written,  prevented 
me  from  considering. 

Even  if  I  had  entertained  a  desire  still  further  to  discuss  the 
questions,  which  have  arisen  between  us  out  of  the  treaty  of  Wash- 
ington, the  course  which  events,  connected  with  that  treaty,  are 
now  taking,  would  have  rendered  such  a  measure  wholly  unneces- 
sary for  any  purpose,  I  had  originally  in  view.  All  1  feared  and 
foretold  has  come  to  pass.  The  British  pretension  to  search  our 
ships,  instead  of  having  been  put  to  rest,  has  assumed  a  more 
threatening  and  imposing  form,  by  the  recent  declaration  of  the 
British  government,  that  they  intend  to  enforce  it.  As  you  already 
know,  the  seventeenth  of  last  September,  the  very  day  I  read  the 
treaty  in  a  New  York  paper,  I  solicited  my  recall.  I  stated  to  you 
I  felt  that  1  could  not  remain  abroad,  honorably  for  myself  nor 
usefully  for  our  country  ;  and  that  I  considered  the  omission  of  a 
stipulation  in  that  treaty,  which  settled  the  African  slave  trade 
question,  to  guard  against  the  right  of  search  or  visitation,  or  by 
what  other  name  it  may  please  the  British  government  and  country' 
to  express  this  claim  to  violate  our  flag  and  to  board  our  vessels, 
as  a  fatal  error  ;  considering  particularly,  that  this  pretension  had 
been  first  put  forth  and  justified  in  connexion  with  that  traffic. 
And  so  viewing  the  subject,  I  felt  that  the  course  I  had  taken  in 
France  in  opposition  to  the  ratification  of  the  quintuple  treaty, 


186  LIFE   OF   GENERAL    CASS. 

which  was  intended  to  engraft  this  principle  upon  the  law  of  na- 
tions, had  not  been  supported  by  the  government,  as  I  thought  it 
it  should  have  been. 

In  my  protest  to  M.  Guizot,  of  February  thirteenth,  1842,  I  had 
staked  my  diplomatic  situation  and  character  upon  this  support. 

Your  letter  of  April  fifth,  1842,  conveyed  the  President's  approv- 
al of  my  conduct,  and  this  you  consider,  in  your  letter  of  Novem- 
ber fourteenth,  1842,  as  taking  from  me  all  further  responsibility. 

You  say,  that  "  having  delivered  my  letter  to  M.  Guizot,  and 
having  read  the  President's  approbation  of  that  proceeding,  it  is 
most  manifest  that  you  could,  in  no  degree,  be  responsible  for  what 
should  be  done  afterwards,  and  done  by  others."  You  add,  as  a 
corollary  from  this  proposition,  that  "  the  President,  therefore, 
cannot  conceive  what  particular  or  personal  interest  of  yours  was 
affected  by  the  subsequent  negotiation  here,  or  how  the  treaty,  the 
result  of  that  negotiation,  should  put  an  end  to  your  usefulness  as 
a  public  minister  at  the  court  of  France,  or  in  any  way  affect  your 
official  character  or  conduct." 

The  answer  to  this  is  so  obvious,  that  I  cannot  but  express  my 
surprise  it  has  escaped  your  observation.  A  diplomatic  agent, 
without  instructions,  takes  a  responsible  step,  which  he  thinks 
called  for  by  the  honor  and  the  interests  of  his  country.  He  states, 
that  he  acts  without  the  knowledge  of  his  government,  and  that,  if 
unsupported,  he  must  return  home,  You  think  that  the  approval 
of  his  course  by  his  own  government  absolves  him  from  all  further 
responsibility,  and  that,  happen  what  may,  his  honor  and  usefulness 
are  unimpaired.  My  opinion  is  far  different.  If  his  government 
approve  his  course  upon  paper,  and  abandon,  in  effect,  the  meas- 
ures he  advocates,  he  cannot  represent  his  country  as  his  country 
ought  to  be  represented  abroad.  And  I  may  safely  add,  that  no 
man,  fit  to  be  sent  upon  a  foreign  mission,  would  hesitate  a  mo- 
ment as  to  the  course  he  ought  to  pursue.  He  would  not  entrench 
himself  behind  his  paper  approval,  for,  if  he  did,  he  would  hear 
words  of  reproach  respecting  his  government,  which  no  man  of 
honor  could  submit  to.  In  my  case  you  approved  my  proceedings, 
but,  as  I  say  and  believe,  you  did  not  guard  against  this  pretension 
of  England  to  search  our  ships,  which  occasioned  my  interposition, 
as  it  should  have  been  guarded  against ;  and  thus,  in  fact,  left  me 
unsupported. 

It  is  by  this  process  of  feeling  and  reasoning,  that  I  reached  the 
conclusion  you  censure  in  no  measured  terms,  and  I  trust  you  will 
now  see  "  how  the  treaty,  the  result  of  that  negotiation,  should 
put  an  end  to  my  usefulness  as  a  public  minister  at  the  court  of 
France." 

It  put  an  end  to  it,  because  I  said  the  American  Government 
would  resist  the  right  of  search.     The  government  said  the  same 
thing,  but  unfortunately  went  on  to  make  a  treaty,  respec  ting  the. 
slave  trade  with  England,  without  saying  a  word  about  this  pre- 
tension, at  the  very  time  England  had  announced  to  the  world  that 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  187 

she  would  search  our  ships,  in  order  to  carry  into  effect  the  trea- 
ties she  had  negotiated  with  other  nations  upon  this  very  subject- 
matter.  And  now  I  am  gravely  told,  that  I  might  have  remained, 
after  this,  the  representative  of  my  country,  because  my  official 
conduct  and  character  were  not  affected. 

I  am  not  considering  which  of  us  is  right  in  his  view  of  the 
proper  course  of  the  government  respecting  this  treaty.  I  lay  that 
out  of  the  question.  I  contend  that,  in  my  opinion,  I  was  not  suf- 
ficiently supported,  and  this  being  so,  that  I  ought  to  have  return- 
ed. *  You  contend  that  my  opinion  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  mat- 
ter; that  the  government  took  upon  itself  the  responsibility,  and 
therefore,  even  if  a  treaty  had  afterwards  been  negotiated  "con- 
taining provisions  in  the  highest  degree  objectionable,  however 
the  government  might  be  discredited,"  the  minister  was  free;  and 
that  his  "usefulness"  could  not  be  thereby  affected. 

I  shall  not  argue  this  point  with  you.  It  is  a  question  of  feel- 
ing, quite  as  much  as  of  reasoning,  and  he  who  would  remain  at 
a  foreign  court  under  these  circumstances,  to  represent  a  "dis- 
credited "  government,  has  no  sentiments  in  common  with  me  up- 
on the  subject.  You  state  in  your  letter,  dated  December  20,  that 
a  declaration  guarding  against  this  claim  to  search  our  vessels, 
would  have  been  "  no  more  suitable  to  this  treaty  than  a  declara- 
tion against  the  right  of  sacking  our  towns  in  time  of  peace,  or 
any  other  outrage."  You  enlarge  upon  this  proposition,  and,  in 
fact,  a  considerable  portion  of  your  letter  is  occupied  with  the  de- 
fence of  the  omission  of  such  a  declaration.  You  suppose  I  had 
advanced  the  idea  "that  something  should  have  been  offered  to 
England  as  a  benefit,  but  coupled  with  such  a  declaration  or  con- 
dition as  that,  if  she  received  the  boon,  it  would  have  been  a  re- 
cognition by  her  of  a  claim,  which  we  make  as  a  matter  of  right." 

You  add,  that  the  President,  satisfied  of  the  justice  of  the  Ame- 
rican doctrine,  has  "avoided  to  change  this  ground,  and  to  place 
the  just  right  of  the  country  upon  the  assent,  express  or  implied, 
of  any  power  whatever."  "The  government  thought  no  skilfully 
extorted  promises  necessary  in  any  such  cases,"  &-c.  All  this, 
and  much  more  in  your  letter  upon  this  topic,  appear  to  me  very 
extraordinary.  I  never  made  a  suggestion  of  the  nature  you  sup- 
pose. I  never,  for  a  moment,  presumed  the  government  would 
hold  out  to  England  a  consideration  for  the  disavowal  of  this  pre- 
tension. What  I  really  said,  I  will  here  repeat  from  my  letter  to 
you  of  February  15,  1842.  But,  before  quoting  the  paragraph,  I 
will  make  a  quotation  from  what  immediately  precedes,  to  show 
that  I  had  a  correct  notion  of  what  would  be  the  course  of  Eng- 
land. The  holy  Chinese  war  is  ended,  and  the  British  army  has 
withdrawn  to  the  east  of  the  Indies.  The  pattern  republic,  as  we 
are  contemptuously  called,  can  now  be  attended  to. 

After  showing  that  this  pretension  to  search  our  ships  is  a  claim 
to  which  this  country  can  never  submit,  I  remark:  "The  next 
question  is,  will  England  yield?"  "It  is  our  safer  course  to  be- 


188  LIFE   OF    GENERAL   CASS. 

lieve  she  will  not,  and,  looking  to  her  line  of  policy,  that,  too,  is 
our  natural  course.  Wherever  she  has  planted  a  foot,  whether  on 
marsh,  moor,  or  mountain,  under  the  polar  circles  as  under  the 
tropics — I  will  not  say  never;  that  word  does  not  belong  to  the 
deeds  of  man — but  rarely  has  she  withdrawn  it.  Whenever  she 
has  asserted  a  pretension,  she  has  adhered  to  it,  through  good  re- 
port and  through  evil  report,  in  prosperity  and  in  adversity,  with 
an  iron  will  and  a  firm  hand,  of  which  the  history  of  the  world  af- 
fords no  equal  example  since  the  proudest  days  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire," &-c. ;  "  and  the  time  has  come  when  we  must  look  her*  de- 
signs in  the  face,  and  determine  to  resist  or  to  yield.  War  is  a 
great  evil,  but  there  are  greater  evils  than  war,  and  among  these 
is  national  degradation.  This  we  have  never  yet  experienced,  and 
I  trust  we  never  shall." 

"  If  Lord  Ashburton  goes  out  with  such  modified  propositions 
upon  the  various  questions  now  pending  between  the  two  govern- 
ments as  you  can  honorably  accept,  the  result  will  be  a  subject  of 
lasting  gratification  to  our  country.  And  more  particularly  if,  as 
I  trust,  before  entering  into  any  discussions,  he  is  prepared  to  give 
such  explanations  as  will  show,  that  we  have  misunderstood  the 
intentions  of  the  British  government  respecting  this  claim  of  a 
right  to  change  the  law  of  nations,  in  order  to  accommodate  it  to 
their  treaty  stipulations  and  its  practical  consequences — a  claim 
to  enter  and  search  our  vessels  at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  This 
preliminary  proceeding  would  be  worthy  of  the  gravity  of  the  cir- 
cumstances, and  equally  honorable  to  both  governments." 

Whether,  in  all  I  said  above  respecting  the  tenacity  of  England 
in  the  prosecution  of  her  claims,  new  or  old,  I  was  justified  by  the 
characteristic  traits  of  her  history,  let  me  be  judged  by  the  late  em- 
phatic declaration  of  the  chief  of  the  British  cabinet,  made  to  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  through  them  to  the  world  ;  and  which, 
we  are  significantly  told,  was  cheered  by  both  sides  of  the  House  ; 
and  whether  I  am  right  in  saying  that  I  never  thought  of  propo- 
sing that  a  "  benefit"  should  be  offered  to  England  for  the  relin- 
quishment  of  this  pretension,  as  you  allege,  let  me  be  judged  by 
my  own  words. 

My  letter  of  December  llth,  is  in  accordance  with  these  views. 
After  stating  the  nature  of  this  claim,  I  continue :  "  Now  here,  it 
appears  to  me.  the  government  should  have  stopped.  The  En- 
glish negotiator  should  have  been  told ;  We  abhor  as  much  as  you 
do  this  traffic  in  human  beings,  and  we  will  do  all  our  peculiar  in- 
stitutions permit,  to  put  an  end  to  it.  But  we  will  not  suffer  this 
matter  to  be  made  the  pretext  for  wounding  our  honor  and  viola- 
ting our  rights.  We  will  not  take  a  single  step,  till  you  have  re- 
nounced this  claim.  We  have  already  denounced  it ;  and  if  we 
should  negotiate  upon  this  subject  matter,  without  settling  this  pre- 
liminary question,  it  would  seem  like  an  abandonment  of  the 
ground  we  have  taken,  or  an  indifference  to  the  consequences." 

This  last  paragraph  touches,  in  my  opinion,  the  true  issue  be- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  189 

tween  us  of  this  part  of  the  controversy.  You  say  that  the  inser- 
tion of  a  declaration  against  the  right  of  search  "  would  have  been 
no  more  suitable  to  this  treaty,  than  a  declaration  against  the  right 
of  sacking  our  towns  in  time  of  peace,"  &c.,  &c. ;  and  hence 
draw  the  conclusion  that  its  omission  was  both  honorable  and  po- 
litic. As  this  sin  of-omission  is  the  principal  charge  I  make  against 
this  treaty,  and  as  it  is  the  one  you  labor  most  earnestly  to  reason 
away,  I  must  be  permitted  again  briefly  to  refer  to  it. 

The  British  government,  in  order,  as  they  said,  to  execute  cer- 
tain treaties  they  had  formed  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade 
claimed  the  right  to  board  and  examine  American  ships.  The 
American  government  denied  this  pretension,  and  thus  stood  the 
parties  before  the  world.  Then  comes  a  British  negotiator  to  our 
shores,  to  settle  the  subjects  in  difference  between  the  two  coun- 
tries. Two  of  these  are  settled.  One  is  this  slave-trade  question  ; 
the  very  question  which  gave  rise  to  the  monstrous  pretension  that 
is  preparing  for  us  so  much  trouble.  And  this  is  distinctly  admit- 
ted in  the  President's  message,  which  states  that,  "  after  (he  bound- 
ary, the  question  which  seems  to  threaten  the  greatest  embarrass- 
ment was  that  connected  with  the  African  slave  trade." 

You  negotiated  upon  the  subject-matter,  knowing  the  construc- 
tion the  British  government  had  given  to  its  other  slave  treaties, 
and  knowing,  what  is  clear  in  itself,  as  stated  in  my  letter  of  Oc- 
tober 3d,  1842,  and  what  Sir  Robert  Peel  has  now  fully  confirmed, 
that  "  if  a  British  cruiser  meet  a  vessel  bearing  the  American  flag, 
where  there  is  no  American  ship  to  examine  her,  it  is  obvious  that 
it  is  quite  as  indispensable  and  justifiable  that  the  cruiser  should 
search  this  vessel  to  ascertain  her  nationality,  since  the  conclusion 
of  the  treaty,  as  it  was  before."  The  error,  therefore,  was  in  ne- 
gotiating upon  this  very  subject,  leaving  to  the  other  party  to  say 
we  have  concluded  an  arrangement  respecting  the  slave  trade  with 
you,  since  our  mutual  pretensions  concerning  the  right  of  search 
have  been  made  known.  You  were  aware  that  our  claim  arose 
out  of  that  subject,  and,  as  you  have  not  guarded  against  it,  we 
shall  enforce  it. 

As  to  the  analogy  between  such  a  claim  and  one  to  sack  a  town 
in  time  of  peace,  it  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  say,  that  when  such  a 
pretension  is  solemnly  put  forth  to  the  world  by  England,  I  shall 
think  any  government  deserving  the- severest  reprobation,  which 
would  go  on  and  negotiate  upon  a  subject-matter  connected  with 
the  origin  of  such  a  claim,  without  sufficient  security  against  it; 
more  particularly  if,  as  in  this  case,  the  subject-matter  relates  to  a 
question  of  general  benevolence,  urged  upon  us,  no  doubt,  by  the 
most  philanthropic  motives,  but  which  no  just  principle  requires  us 
to  intermeddle  with,  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  first  attributes  of  our 
independence. 

You  make  some  remarks  upon  the  impropriety  of  requiring  from 
any  nation  a  solemn  renunciation  of  an  unjust  pretension,  and  you 
proceed  to  observe  that  the  President  "  has  not  sought,  but,  on  the 


190  LIFE   OF   GENERAL    CASS. 

contrary,  has  sedulously  avoided,  to  change  the  ground,  and  to 
place  the  just  rights  of  the  country  upon  the  assent,  express  or  im- 
plied, of  any  power  whatever."  "  The  government  thought  no 
skillfully  extorted  promises  necessary  in  any  such  cases." 

As  to  the  extortion  of  promise,  it  is  a  question  of  ethics,  which 
has  no  place  here.  As  to  the  propriety  of  requiring  a  nation  for- 
mally to  disavow  an  unjust  pretension  before  entering  into  a  nego- 
tiation with  her,  or,  if  she  will  not  do  so,  of  then  telling  her,  we 
shall  stand  upon  our  public  denial  of  your  claim,  and  will  not  ne- 
gotiate with  you,  it  seems  to  me  that  such  a  course  is  equally  hon- 
orable and  politic.  Is  not  'diplomatic  history  full  of  these  efforts- 
to  procure  such  disavowals,  and  who  before  ever  expressed  a  doubt 
of  the  policy  of  these  measures  ?  Have  we  not,  time  after  time,, 
endeavored  to  induce  England  to  stipulate,  that  she  would  not  im- 
press seamen  from  our  ships?  And  did  you  not,  in  the  course  of 
the  late  negotiation  with  Lord  Ashburton,  strive  to  procure  the 
solemn  abandonment  of  .this  claim?  There  is  conclusive  proof  of 
this  in  your  letter  to  the  British  minister  of  August  8th,  1842, 
where  you  say,  after  having  conversed  with  him,  that  "  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  does  not  see  any  utility  in  opening  such 
negotiation,  unless  the  British  government  is  prepared  to  renounce 
the  practice  in  all  future  wars." 

You  remark,  also,  in  the  same  letter,  that  "  both  before  and 
and  since  the  war,  negotiations  have  taken  place  between  the  two 
governments,  with  the  hope  of  finding  some  means  of  quieting  these 
complaints"  (of  impressment.)  You  allude  also  to  the  convention 
formed  for  this  purpose  by  Mr.  King,  in  1803,  and  to  the  "  utter 
failure  of  many  negotiations  upon  this  subject." 

Were  all  these  fruitless  efforts,  so  long  carried  on,  liable  to  the 
objection  you  raise,  that  any  nation,  calling  upon  another  to  dis- 
avow an  unjust  pretension,  weakens  its  own  cause,  and  "  that  no 
interpolation  of  a  promise  to  respect  them,  (that  is,  our  rights  and 
dignity,)  ingeniously  woven  into  treaties,  would  be  likely  to  afford 
such  protection  ?" 

Now,  what  becomes  of  the  analogy  you  seek  to  establish,  and 
which  by  a  reductio  ad  absurdum,  is  intended  to  show  that  these 
conventional  disavowals  of  contested  pretensions  are  "  skillfully  ex- 
torted promises,"  inconsistent  with  our  dignity  and  interests? 
What  becomes  of  the  claim  to  sack  our  towns  in  time  of  peace, 
and  of  "protests,"  which  you  liken  to  Chinese  figures  painted  on 
eities,  to  frighten  away  the  enemy? 

From  the  time  of  Washington  to  this  day,  almost  every  admin- 
istration has  sought  to  procure  from  the  British  government  a  sol- 
emn relinquishment  of  her  claim  to  impress  our  seamen,  and  never 
before  was  it  discovered  that  the  effort  was  unworthy  and  dishon- 
orable. 

And,  during  all  the  period  of  the  long  war  between  England  and 
France,  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  and  at  the  beginning  of 
this,  when  the  laws  o.f  nations  and  the  rights  of  neutrals  were 


LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS.  191 

equally  contemned,  how  many  attempts  were  made  by  our  govern- 
ment to  induce  that  of  Great  Britain  to  abandon  her  unjust  pre- 
tensions, and  to  stipulate  that  she  would  no  more  exercise  them  ? 
and  that,  too,  for  a  "  boon."  Our  public  documents  are  filled  with 
proofs  of  this.  I  shall  refer  to  one  or  two,  which  even  you  will 
deem  conclusive. 

In  a  letter  from  Mr.  Madison  to  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney, 
dated  May  20th,  1807,  our  negotiators  are  told,  "  that,  "  without 
a  provision  against  impressment,  substantially  such  as  is  contemp- 
lated in  your  original  instructions,  no  treaty  is  to  be  concluded." 

Again,  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Madison  to  Mr.  Monroe,  dated  Jan- 
uary 5th,  1804,  the  former  remarks  that  "  the  plan  of  a  conven- 
tion, contemplated  by  the  President,  is  limited  to  the  cases  of  im- 
pressment of  our  seamen,  of  blockades,  of  visiting  and  searching 
our  vessels,  of  contraband  of  war,  and  of  the  trade  with  hostile  co- 
lonies, with  a  few  other  cases,  affecting  our  maritime  rights,  em- 
bracing,, however,  as  inducements  to  Great  Britain  to  do  us  justice 
therein,  a  provision  for  the  surrender  of  deserting  seamen  and  sol- 
diers, and  for  the  prevention  of  contraband  supplies  to  her  ene- 
mies." 

Then  follows  the  plan  of  a  convention  for  these  purposes. 

And  this  projet  was  the  work  of  Mr.  Madison,  directed  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  and  addressed  to  Mr.  Monroe.  The  "  rights  and  dig- 
nity" of  the  United  States  were  as  safe  in  their  hands,  as  they  will 
ever  be  in  mortal  hands.  And  even  if  I  had  recommended,  as  I 
have  not,  a  "  boon,"  or  "  favor,"  or  "  benefit,"  to  be  given  to  Eng- 
land, in  consideration  of  her  relinquishment  ofthis  offensive  claim, 
I  should  not  have  wanted  higher  precedents  to  justify  me. 

You  object  to  the  suggestion  I  made,  that  a  declaration  should 
have  accompanied  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  denying  the  right 
to  search  our  ships  ;  and  you  ask,  apparently  emphatically,  if  this 
had  been  done,  and  if  the  British  "  government  with  equal  inge- 
nuity had  appended  an  equivalent  written  declaration  that  it  should 
not  be  considered  as  sacrificing  any  British  right,  how  much  more 
defined  would  have  been  the  right  of  either  party,  or  how  much 
more  clear  the  meaning  and  interpretation  of  the  treaty  ?" 

I  am  very  unwilling  to  believe  you  do  not  wish  to  deal  sincerely 
with  me  in  this  matter,  and  I  must,  therefore,  attribute  the  strange 
error,' you  have  committed,  in  the  construction  of  my  language,  to 
a  hasty  perusal  of  it.  Had  you  read  it  with  due  care,  you  would 
have  found  that  I  spoke  not  of  an  ez  parte  declaration,  but  of  a 
declaration  mutually  assented  to,  and  which  thereby  would  have 
become  a  portion  of  the  treaty  :  a  declaration,  putting  a  construc- 
tion upon  the  instrument,  which  would  thus  have  been  ratified  with 
a  knowledge  of  it.  After  meeting  your  assertion,  that  the  tenden- 
cy of  my  letter  was  to  impute  blame  to  the  President  and  Senate 
for  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and  showing  that  it  was  not  the 
ratification  but  the  negotiation  I  censured,  I  add,  "I  am  under  the 
impression,  if  I  had  had  a  vote  to  give,  I  should  have  been  found 


192  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

among  the  majority  upon  that* occasion.  This,  however,  would 
have  been  upon  the  condition,  that  some  declaration  should  be  an- 
nexed to  the  act  of  ratification,  denouncing  the  pretension  to 
search  our  ships.  I  would  thus  have  sent  the  instrument  to  the 
British  government,  and  placed  upon  them  the  responsibility  of  its 
final  rejection  or  ratification,  and  I  am  sure  we  should  have  had 
the  opinion  of  the  world  with  us  under  such  circumstances."  I 
need  add  nothing  to  this  branch  of  the  subject.  It  is  clear  that  I 
spoke  here  of  a  conditional  ratification,  depending  upon  the  assent 
to  be  given  by  the  other  party  to  the  declaration  concerning  the 
claim  of  search.  There  would  have  been  here  no  room  for  the 
diplomatic  retort  you  suggest.  There  could  have  been  no  counter 
declaration,  for  then  the  whole  arrangement  would  have  been  void. 
As  I  said  in  my  letter  of  December  llth,  "Had  this  course  been 
pursued,  the  sincerity  of  the  British  government  would  have  un- 
dergone a  practical  test,  from  which  there  would  have  been  no  es- 
cape. It  would  not  have  been  necessary  to  quote  the  last  despatch 
of  Lord  Aberdeen  to  show  what  he  meant  in  another,  or  Lord  Pal- 
merston  in  the  first.  If  such  a  proposition  had  been  made  and 
accepted,  our  honor  would  have  been  vindicated,  our  rights  secu- 
red, and  a  bright  example  of  sincerity  and  moderation  would  have 
been  given  to  the  world  by  a  great  nation.  If  it  had  been  rejected, 
that  would  have  proved  that  our  co-operation  in  the  suppression  of 
the  slave  trade  was  a  question  of  minor  importance,  to  be  sacrificed 
to  the  preservation  of  a  pretension,  intended  to  introduce  an  entire 
change  into  the  maritime  police  of  the  world."  "Why  this  very 
obvious  course  was  not  adopted,  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss  to  conjec- 
ture, and  that  it  was  not,  is  precisely  the  objection  to  which  the 
whole  arrangement  is  liable.  Instead  of  the  high  ground  we  should 
then  have  occupied,  we  find  ourselves  seriously  discussing  the 
question  whether  or  not  England  will  enforce  this  claim." 

There  wa«  a  very  uncourteous  tone  pervading  your  letter  to  me 
of  November  14th,  1842  ;  a  kind  of  official  loftiness,  which,  how- 
ever it  may  suit  other  meridians,  does  not  belong  to  an  American 
functionary  writing  to  an  American  citizen.  My  answer  to  that 
letter  was  very  hastily  written.  It  was  prepared,  as  you  will  per- 
ceive by  the  date  and  by  your  receipt  of  it,  the  very  day  the  post- 
master of  New-York  handed  me  your  communication. 

I  was  aware  that  the  subject  ought  to  occupy  more  time,  and 
that  justice  was  not  done  to  it.  But  you  had  intimated  pretty  dis- 
tinctly in  your  letter,  that  our  correspondence  was  to  be  published, 
and  1  was  apprehensive  it  might,  somehow  or  other,  find  its  way  to 
the  public  before  I  could  correct  the  erroneous  impression,  which 
your  letter  was  calculated  to  produce.  Under  these  circumstan- 
ces, my  attention  was  drawn  to  the  general  course  of  reasoning 
rather  than  to  the  mode  in  which  this  was  conveyed  ;  and,  although 
there  were  one  or  two  paragraphs,  so  plainly  uncourteous,  that 
they  could  not  escape  my  observation,  still  I  passed  them  by,  hav- 
ing little  taste  for  a  war  of  words ;  but,  in  your  letter  dated  De- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

cember  20th,  and  received  February  23d,  these  offensive  expres- 
sions are  repeated,  and  the  same  process  is  adopted  to  prove  me 
guilty  of  misstatement,  which  is  contained  in  the  preceding  letter. 
I  met  this  attempt  at  that  time  without  any  reference  to  the  lan- 
guage which  you  used.  I  shall  meet  it  again ;  but  I  shall  take 
leave  to  precede  my  defence  by  reminding  you  of  the  comity, 
which  an  American  Secretary  of  State  owes  to  his  countrymen. 
You  say  "the  President  is  not  a  little  startled,  that  you  should  make 
such  totally  groundless  assumptions  of  fact,  and  then  leave  a  dis- 
creditable inference  to  be  drawn  from  them.  He  directs  me  not 
only  to  repel  this  inference,  as  it  ought  to  be  repelled,  but  also  to 
bring  to  your  serious  consideration  and  reflection  the  propriety  of 
such  an  assumed  narrative  of  facts,  as  your  despatch,  in  this  re- 
spect, puts  forth." 

"The  President  cannot  conceive  how  you  should  have  been  led 
to  adventure  upon  such  a  statement  as  this.  It  is  but  a  tissue  of 
mistakes."  "All  these  statements,  thus  by  you  made,  and  which 
are  so  exceedingly  erroneous,"  &c. 

And,  in  your  last  letter,  you  say  that,  "in  attempting  to  escape 
from  some  of  the  mistakes  of  this  tissue,  you  have  fallen  into 
others,"  &c. 

Following  your  example,  it  would  have  been  easy  to  find  a  retort 
for  these  expressions,  which  would  want  neither  point  nor  truth. 
But  my  own  self  respect,  and,  still  more,  my  respect  for  that  great 
tribunal  of  public  opinion,  which  is  to  judge  between  us,  forbid 
me  from  imitating  your  course  upon  this  occasion.  I  would  re- 
mind you,  that  there  is  nothing  in  your  official  position,  nothing  in 
our  relative  situation,  which  can  justify  this  lofty  assumption  of 
superiority.  I  doubt  if  a  parallel  can  be  found  in  diplomatic  his- 
tory since  Napoleon  swayed  the  destinies  of  the  world.  But  the 
use,  which  you  make  of  the  President's  name,  in  this  undignified 
language,  is  even  more  to  be  regretted  than  the  epithets  them* 
selves.  That  high  functionary  should  not  be  invoked,  when  a  pri-> 
vate  citizen  is  thus  assailed.  Under  different  circumstances,  such 
conduct  might  be  imitated  by  the  other  party,  and  a  system  of 
crimination  and  of  recrimination  introduced  into  the  correspon- 
dence of  the  department,  equally  injurious  to  the  public  interest, 
and  incompatible  with  the  public  honor.  Upon  the  present  occa- 
sion, no  such  result  will  happen.  I  have  too  much  respect  for  the 
Chief  Magistracy  of  my  country,  and  too  much  regard  for  the  dis- 
tinguished individual  who  occupies  that  high  post,  to  introduce  his 
name  unnecessarily  into  this  discussion  ;  and,  notwithstanding  you 
have  appealed  to  him,  I  shall  still  consider  the  language  as  yours, 
and  not  as  his.  Many  others  would  not  be  as  forbearing.  I  say 
the  "language,"  for  it  is  that  which  I  censure,  I  do  not  question 
your  right,  nor  the  right  of  any  other  person,  freely  to  examine 
and  to  meet  statements  and  arguments  at  discretion.  But  let  this 
be  done  with  the  courtesy  of  a  gentleman. 

I  shall  now  proceed,  as  briefly  as  possible,  to  examine  these 

13 


194  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

charges  of  an  assumed  narrative  of  facts  ;  of  groundless  assump- 
tion, and  of  a  tissue  of  mistakes,  which  you  have  once  and  again 
preferred  against  me.  But  first,  let  us  see  what  is  the  grave  fault 
you  allege  I  have  committed.  I  will  state  it  in  your  own  words  : 

"  Before  examining  the  several  objections  suggested  by  you,  it 
may  be  proper  to  take  notice  of  what  you  say  upon  the  course  of  the 
negotiation.  In  regard  to  this,  having  observed  that  the  national 
dignity  of  the  United  States  had  not  been  compromitted  down  to 
the  time  of  the  President's  message,  at  the  last  session,  you  proceed 
to  say  :  But  England  then  urged  the  United  States  to  enter  into  a 
conventional  arrangement,  by  which  we  might  be  pledged  to  con- 
cur with  her  in  measures  for  the- suppression  of  the  slave  trade. 
Until  then,  we  had  executed  our  own  laws  in  our  own  way.  But, 
yielding  to  the  application,  and  departing  from  our  former  princi- 
ple, of  aroiding  European  combinations  upon  subjects  not  Ameri- 
can, we  stipulated,  in  a  solemn  treaty,  that  we  would  carry  into 
effect  our  own  laws,  and  fixed  the  minimum  force  we  would  em- 
ploy for  that  purpose." 

After  this  quotation,  you  thus  continue  ;  "  The  President  can- 
not conceive  ho'v  you  should  have  been  led  to  adventure  upon  such 
a  statement  as  this,  tt  is  but  a  tissue  of  mistakes.  The  United 
States  yielded  to  no  application  from  England ;  the  proposition 
for  abolishing  the  slave  trade,  as  it  stands  in  the  treaty,  was  an 
American  proposition;  it  originated  with  the  executive  government 
of  the  United  States,  which  cheerfully  assumes  all  its  responsibili- 
ty. Tt  stands  upon  its  own  mode  of  fulfilling  its  duties,  and  ac- 
complishing its  objects.  Nor  have  the  United  States  departed,  in 
this  treaty,  in  the  slightest  degree  from  their  former  principles,  of 
avoiding  European  combinations  upon  subjects  not  American  : 
because  the  abolition  of  the  African  slave  trade  is  an  American 
subject  as  emphatically  as  it  is  an  European  subject,  and  indeed 
more  so,  inasmuch  as  the  government  of  the  United  Spates  took 
the  first  great  step  in  declaring  that  trade  unlawful,  and  in  attempt- 
ing its  extinction.  The  abolition  of  this  traffic  is  an  object  of  the 
highest  interest  to  the  American  people  and  the  American  govern- 
ment ;  and  you  seem  strangely  to  have  overlooked  the  important 
fact,  that  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  by  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  the  Uni- 
ted States  bound  themselves,  by  a  solemn  compact  with  England, 
to  continue  '  their  efforts  for  its  entire  abolition,'  both  parties 
pledging  themselves,  by  that  treaty,  to  use  their  best  endeavors  to 
accomplish  so  desirable  an  object." 

"  Again,  you  speak  of  an  important  concession  made  to  the  re- 
newed application  of  England.  But  the  treaty,  let  it  be  repeated, 
makes  no  concession  whatever  to  England.  It  complies  with  no 
demand,  conforms  to  no  request.  All  these  statements,  thus  by 
you  made,  and  which  are  so  exceedingly  erroneous,  seem  calcula- 
ted to  hold  up  the  idea  that,  in  this  treaty,  your  government  has 
been  acting  a  subordinate  or  even  a  complying  part."  And  then 
follows  the  grandiloquent  passage  I  have  already  quoted,  commenc- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  195 

ing  in  such  a  solemn  style,  that  the  President  was  "  startled"  at 
all  these  grievous  offences  of  mine. 

Thus  stands  your  charge  in  the  letter  of  November  1  Ith,  1842. 
It  is  renewed  in  that  of  December  20th.  In  my  answer  to  the  first 
I  vindicated  myself,  and  I  thought  successfully,  against  your  com- 
plaint, and  never  supposed  it  would  again  rise  up  in  judgment 
against  me.  1  told  you  that  you  had  qualified  as  a  tissue  of  mis- 
takes a  paragraph  which  contained  one  statement,  as  a  fact,  to 
wit :  that  England  had  urged  our  government  to  enter  into  a  trea- 
ty stipulation  for  putting  an  end  to  the  slave  trade,  to  which  we 
yielded.  I  told  you  still  further,  why  I,  as  well  as  the  world,  sup- 
posed that  the  application  for  this  stipulation  came  from  England. 
She  had  pursued  this  object  steadily  for  forty  years,  and  she  had 
sent  out  a  special  minister  charged  to  negotiate  upon  that  as  well 
as  upon  other  subjects.  We  had  no  interest  to  form  a  slave  trade 
convention.  You  refer  to  the  treaty  of  Ghent  as  creating  obliga- 
tions upon  this  matter,  but  that  treaty  makes  not  the  slightest  al- 
lusion to  any  further  arrangements,  and  has  no  more  connexion 
with  the  treaty  ot  Washington,  than  with  the  convention  respect- 
ing armed  vessels  upon  the  lakes.  It  was  complete  in  itself,  and 
neither  required  nor  looked  to  any  other  stipulations  between  the 
parties.  And  we  had  executed  it  in  good  faith. 

For  these  reasons,  I  supposed  that  Lord  Ashburton  came  out  to 
propose  to  us  to  enter  into  another  treaty  upon  thi's  subject ;  and  I 
thus  stated  it  as  an  historical  fact.  In  my  answer,  1  further  called 
to  your  observation  that  the  rest  of  the  paragraph  was  matter  of 
inference  or  deduction,  not  admitting  qualifications  applicable,  not 
to  inferences,  but  to  assertions.  As  I  shall,  by  and  by,  have  oc- 
casion to  refer  again  to  this  branch  of  the  subject,  I  shall  not  pur- 
sue it  any  further  at  present. 

In  your  last  letter  you  reiterate,  in  substance,  what  you  had  previ- 
ously said,  and  add,  that  "  it  would  appear  from  all  this,  that  that 
which  in  your  first  letter  appeared  as  a  direct  statement  of  fact, 
of  which  you  would  naturally  be  presumed  to  have  had  knowledge, 
sinks  at  last  into  inference  and  conjecture."  Now,  here  is  a  very 
obvious  error,  which,  by  the  slightest  attention  to  what  I  said, 
would  have  been  avoided  ;  but  I  will  not  qualify  the  mistake  as  a 
tissue  of  anything.  I  did  not  say  that  the  statement  of  facts,  to 
which  you  refer,  was  all  matter  of  inference.  I  said  expressly, 
that  the  statement  respecting  the  desire  of  England,  that  we  should 
enter  into  this  negotiation  was  put  forward  as  a  well-known  fact, 
but  that-"  all  else — I  repeat  it.  all  else — to  the  very  least  idea,  is 
matter  of  inference."  Let  the  correctness  of  this  assertion  be  judg- 
ed by  a  reference  to  the  paragraph.  You  continue  :  "  But  in  at- 
tempting to  escape  from  some  of  the  mistakes  of  this  tissue,  you 
have  fallen  into  others." 

You  then  refer  to  my  statement,  that  England  continued  to  pro- 
secute the  matter,  and  that  we  consented  to  its  introduction.  This, 
however,  it  is  very  clear,  is  but  the  same  idea  before  suggested 


196  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

and  combatted  in  your  first  letter.  You  say  the  English  "  minis- 
ter no  more  presented  the  subject  for  negotiation  than  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  presented  it." 

You  then  ask  me  to  "  review  my  series  of  assertions  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  see  whether  they  can  possibly  be  regarded,  merely  as  a 
statement  of  your  own  inference?." 

It  would  be  but  a  waste  of  time  to  repeat  what  I  have  already 
said,  that  I  assumed  as  an  historical  fact,  believed  by  everybody, 
that  Lord  Ashburton  came  to  urge  the  negotiation  of  this  treaty, 
and  that  upon  this  point  we  yielded  to  the  desire  of  England. 
When  you  say  this  is  one  of  the  "  inferences"  to  which  I  refer, 
you  furnish  me  with  language  and  statements  which  are  not  my  own. 

But,  after  all,  why  this  strange  pertinacity  in  dwelling  upon  this 
point  ]  Why  this  studied  and  repeated  attempt  to  prove  me 
guilty  of  a  tissue  of  mistakes,  because  I  believed  Lord  Ashburton 
submitted  propositions  upon  this  question  of  the  slave  trade,  and 
that  our  government  acceded  to  them  1  I  have  already  shown, 
that  this  opinion  was  a  natural  one,  and  held  in  common  with  the 
country,  and  I  trust  I  shall  show  this  still  more  clearly.  But  even 
if  not  so,  how  does  this  change  the  state  of  things  1  Does  it  prove 
that  the  negotiator  was  more  sagacious,  or  the  treaty  more  useful 
and  honorable  1  The  result  is  the  same,  and  the  inquiry  is  there- 
fore confined  to  the  process.  You  will  please  to  recollect  I  object- 
ed that  we  had  yielded  to  the  application  of  England,  and  made  a 
treaty  upon  this  subject,  without  guarding  against  a  dishonorable 
pretension  she  had  advanced  respecting  it. 

This  is  the  whole  charge,  which  has  provoked  all  this  "  start- 
ling" reproof.  To  this  you  answer,  as  though  this  answer  took 
away  all  censure,  that  the  "  British  minister  no  more  presented  the 
subject  for  negotiation  than  the  government  of  the  United  States 
presented  it  ;''  that  is,  in  other  words  that  the  matter  was  jointly 
conducted  and  terminated  And  is  it  possible  you  can  believe  that 
this  circumstance  takes  away  the  grave  responsibility  of  an  impro- 
vident arrangement,  which  left  us  worse  than  it  found  us ;  and, 
what  is  sincerely  to  be  deplored  by  every  American,  which  led  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress — 
a  document  read  by  the  world — to  put  a  construction  upon  this 
instrument,  which  the  English  prime  minister  has  contradicted  in 
the  most  solemn  manner,  and  in  no  measured  terms?  The  Pre- 
sident, in  his  message  of  1841,  says  that  this  claim  of  "  visit  and 
inquiry"  was  "regarded  as  the  right  of  search,  presented  only  in 
a  new  form,  and  expressed  in  different  words,"  and  he  adds  that 
he  had  denounced  it  as  inadmissible  by  the  United  States.  He 
then  proceeds  to  speak  of  the  recent  treaty,  and  thus  continues  : 
"  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  ground  assumed  in  the  mes- 
sage (to  wit,  that  the  United  States  would  never  submit  to  this 
new-fangled  claim  of  '  visit  and  inquiry')  has  been  fully  maintain- 
ed, at  the  same  time,  that  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent 
are  to  be  carried  out  in  good  faith  by  the  two  countries,  and  that 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  197 

ail  pretence  is  removed  for  interference  with  our  commerce  for  any 
purpose  by  a  foreign  government," 

This  construction  the  English  government  deny,  and  boldly 
avow  their  adherence  to  the  claim  to  board  and  examine  our  ves- 
sels. Now,  where  can  you  find  one  word  in  the  treaty,  which  but 
intimates  that  this  question  respecting  "  visitation"  has  been  even 
taken  up  or  touched  ?  Unfortunately,  no  such  word  is  there ;  nor 
is  there  any  principle  of  sound  construction,  which  can  supply  its 
place.  What  I  said  to  you  in  my  letter  of  October  3d,  upon  this 
topic  may,  perhaps,  produce  more  impression  now  than  it  did  then. 
It  has  been  marvellously  confirmed.  I  remarked  :  "  In  carefully 
looking  at  the  7th  and  8th  articles  of  the  treaty  providing  for  the 
suppression  of  this  traffic,  I  do  not  see  that  they  change  in  the 
slightest  degree  the  pre-existing  rights  claimed  by  Great  Britain 
to  search  our  ships.  That  claim,  as  advanced  both  by  Lord  Pal- 
merston  and  Lord  Aberdeen,  rests  on  the  assumption  that  the  trea- 
ties between  England  and  other  European  powers  upon  this  sub- 
ject could  not  be  executed  without  its  exercise,  and  that  the  hap- 
py concurrence  of  these  powers  not  only  justified,  but  rendered  it 
indispensable.  By  the  recent  treaty  we  are  to  keep  a  squadron 
on  the  coast  of  Africa.  We  have  kept  one  there  for  years;  during 
the  whole  time,  indeed,  of  these  efforts  to  put  a  stop  to  this  most 
iniquitous  commerce.  The  effect  of  the  treaty,  therefore,  is  to  ren- 
der it  obligatory  upon  us,  by  a  convention,  to  do  what  we  have 
long  done  voluntarily — to  place  our  municipal  laws  in  some  mea- 
sure beyond  the  reach  of  Congress,  and  to  increase  the  strength 
of  the  squadron  employed  on  this  duty." 

"  But  if  a  British  cruiser  meet  a  vessel  bearing  the  American 
flag  where  there  is  no  American  ship  of  war  to  examine  her,  it  is 
obvious  that  it  is  quite  as  indispensable  and  justifiable,  that  the 
cruiser  should  search  this  vessel  to  ascertain  her  nationality,  since 
the  conclusion  of  this  treaty  as  it  was  before.  The  mutual  rights 
of  the  parties  are  in  this  respect  wholly  untouched ;  their  preten- 
sions exist  in  full  force,  and  what  they  could  do  prior  to  this  ar- 
rangement they  may  do  now  ;  for  though  they  have  respectively 
sanctioned  the  employment  of  a  force  to  give  effect  '  to  the  laws, 
rights,  and  obligations  of  the  two  countries,'  yet  they  have  not  pro- 
hibited the  use  of  any  other  measures,  which  either  party  may  be 
disposed  to  adopt." 

What  was  opinion,  when  I  wrote,  has  now  become  fact. 

In  all  this  I  beg  not  to  be  misunderstood.  I  do  not  wish  again 
to  subject  myself  to  the  charge  you  made  against  me  of  favoring 
the  pretensions  of  England.  That  is  one  of  the  last  offences  I  de- 
sire to  commit,  or,  if  1  know  myself,  that  I  am  likely  to  commit. 
I  think  the  pretension  she  advances  to  search  our  vessels,  and  to 
call  this  search  a  "  visitation,"  is  one  of  the  most  injurious  and 
unjustifiable  claims  of  modern  days.  I  would  meet  the  first  exer- 
cise of  it  by  war.  It  leads  directly  to  impressment,  and  subjects 
our  whole  commercial  marine  to  the  mercy  of  a  jealous  rival.  It 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

is  but  another  step  in  her  march  towards  universal  domination  I 
do  not  believe  our  government  have  acknowledged  this  claim,  or 
ever  thought  of  acknowledging  it.  I  believe  the  President  and  all 
his  cabinet  are  too  honorable  and  too  patriotic  ever  to  harbor  a 
thought  of  their  surrendering  one  of  our  proudest  national  rights. 
But,  as  I  said  before,  it  is  an  act  of  omission  and  not  of  commis- 
sion I  censure.  It  is  because  a  treaty  has  been  made  embracing 
the  slave  trade,  and  because  no  security  is  found  there  against  the 
exercise  of  this  pretension,  which  threatened,  as  the  President  said 
in  his  message,  the  greatest  embarrassment,  and  was  "  connected 
with  the  African  slave  trade." 

But  to  return  to  your  charge  of  my  want  of  good  faith  in  this 
"  tissue  of  mistakes."  In  any  discussion  concerning  the  origin 
and  nature  of  the  propositions,  which  led  to  the  7th  and  8th  arti- 
cles of  the  treaty  of  Washingtoa  respecting  the  slave  trade,  you 
have  greatly  the  advantage  over  any  antagonist.  It  is  a  remarka- 
ble fact,  and  without  precedent,  probably,  in  modern  diplomacy, 
that  not  one  written  word  is  to  be  found  in  the  documents  relating 
to  this  treaty,  which  passed  between  the  negotiators,  and  which 
led  to  this  new  and  important  stipulation.  I  presume  these  func- 
tionaries met  often,  and  conversed  upon  the  various  topics  pend- 
ing between  them,  and  then  some  protocol  of  their  meeting,  or 
some  correspondence,  was  prepared,  embodying  their  views.  One 
would  suppose  that  this  course  was  necessary,  as  well  for  them- 
selves, as  for  the  information  of  their  governments,  and,  I  may 
add,  in  the  case  of  the  American  negotiator,  for  the  information 
of  the  people — equally  his  sovereign  and  the  sovereign  of  the 
government  he  represented — was  all  this  omitted,  or  has  it  been 
suppressed  ?  As  was  said  by  a  senator  from  Pennsylvania,  in  the 
debate  upon  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and  said  with  as  much 
beauty,  "  The  tracks  of  the  negotiators  were  upon  sand,  and  the 
returning  tide  has  effaced  them  forever.'' 

In  the  question  relating  to  impressment  there  is  no  such  reserve. 
We  have  a  letter  on  that  vital  subject  from  each  party ;  and  yet 
this  correspondence  led  to  nothing  ;  and  when  it  was  prepared,  it 
would  lead  to  nothing.  Why  it  is  there,  it  passes  my  comprehen- 
sion to  judge.  When,  in  conversation  with  the  British  negotiator,, 
you  found  he  was  not  prepared  to  make  any  concession  upon  this 
subject,  why  introduce  it  at  all.  and  give  his  government  another 
opportunity  to  assert  its  pretension,  and  to  avow  its  determination 
to  enforce  it  ?  What  was  gained  by  this  ?  You  could  hardly  ex- 
pect to  shed  new  light  upon  a  question  discussed  by  Jefferson  and 
Madison;  and  you  could  hardly  expect,  that  any  declaration  of  re- 
sistance to  the  practice  could  be  more  emphatic,  than  the  resist- 
ance of  the  last  war,  and  the  numerous  remonstrances  against  the 
doctrine  with  which  our  diplomatic  history  abounds.  An  impor- 
tant subject  is  introduced  into  the  treaty  without  any  discussion ; 
and  another,  still  more  important,  is  discussed  without  introduc- 
tion, and  with  the  full  knowledge  that  it  would  not  be  introduced. 


LIFE    OE    GENERAL    CASS.  199 

Allow  me  again  to  spread  before  you  the  paragraph  you  quote, 
and  which  cont  rins  the  "  tissue  of  mistakes,"  which  occupies  so 
conspicuous  a  place  in  your  letter  : 

"  But  England  then  urged  the  United  States  to  enter  into  a  con- 
ventional arrangement,  by  which  we  might  be  pledged  to  concur 
with  her  in  the  measures  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade. 
Till  then  we  had  executed  our  own  laws  in  our  own  way  ;  but, 
yielding  to  this  application,  and  departing  from  our  former  prin- 
ciple of  avoiding  European  combinations  upon  subjects  not  Amer- 
ican, we  stipulated  in  a  solemn  treaty  that  we  would  carry  into 
effect  our  own  laws,  and  fixed  the  minimum  force  we  would  em- 
ploy for  that  purpose." 

This  is  the  whole  charge,  as  you  make  it.  This  is  the  paragraph 
in  reference  to  which  you  say  "the  President  cannot  conceive  how 
you  should  have  been  led  to  adventure  upon  such  a  statement  as 
this."  Now  let  us  analyze  this  matter,  and  see  if  it  is  as  "start- 
ling" as  you  suppose.  How  many  facts  are  here  stated  1  and,  of 
these,  how  many  are  denied  or  doubted  ? 

First.  England  urged  us  to  make  a  treaty  for  the  suppression  of 
the  slave  trade. 

Second.   We  yielded  to  this  application. 

Third.  Before  then,  we  had  executed  our  own  laws  in  our  own 
way. 

Fourth.  We  departed  thereby  from  an  old  principle  of  avoiding 
European  combinations  upon  subjects  not  American. 

Fifth.   We  stipulated  we  would  carry  into  effect  our  own  laws. 

Sixth.  We  fixed  the  minimum  force  we  would  employ  for  that 
purpose. 

Here  is  the  whole  indictment.     Now  for  the  defence. 

I  suppose  I  may  pass  over  the  second  fact.  It  depends  entirely 
upon  the  first,  and  is,  in  truth,  a  part  of  it.  If  England  urged  this 
treaty  upon  us,  and  we  thereupon  assented  to  the  negotiation  of 
it,  we  of  course  yielded  to  the  application.  I  suppose  I  may  pass 
over  the  third  fact :  no  one  will  dispute  its  truth.  Or,  if  it  is  de- 
nied, let  it  be  shown  when,  before  now,  our  laws  were  enforced  by 
virtue  of  treaty  stipulations.  I  suppose  I  may  pass  over  the  fourth. 
It  is  matter  of  opinion,  as  I  said  in  my  former  letter — of  inference. 
No  one  can  place  it  in  that  category  of  facts,  for  the  truth  of  which 
he  who  advances  them  is  morally  responsible.  You  say  that  the 
suppression  of  the  slave  trade  is  interesting  to  the  United  States; 
and  that  therefore  we  have  not  departed,  in  the  formation  of  the 
treaty,  from  the  wholesome  maxim  of  non-combination.  I  say  it 
is  interesting,  also,  but  that  our  duties  can  be  fully  performed  with- 
out any  European  combination ;  and  that  such  a  mutual  arrange- 
ment is  injurious,  and  violates  one  of  the  articles  of  our  political 
faith  :  and,  in  proof  of  the  danger  of  these  arrangements,  I  refer  to 
the  "perpetually  recurring  difficulties,  which  are  presenting  them 
selves  in  the  execution  of  the  conventions  between  France  and 
England  upon  this  subject."  I  suppose  I  may  pass  over  the  fifth 


200  LIFE   OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

fact,  for  no  one  can  question  that,  by  the  treaty,  we  do  stipulate  to 
carry  into  effect  our  own  laws.  The  eighth  article  expressly  de- 
clares that  the  object  is  to  "enforce  the  laws,'1  &LC.,  of  each  of  the 
two  countries.  I  suppose,  also,  I  may  pass  over  the  sixth  fact,  for 
the  same  eighth  article  provides  that  the  squadron  to  be  employed 
in  suppressing  the  slave  trade  shall  "carry  in  all  not  less  than 
eighty  guns."  Here  is  the  minimum.  We  thus  removed  five  of 
these  condemned  facts  from  the  act  of  accusation.  There  remains 
one  to  support  the  charge  you  have  made,  and  to  justify  the  un- 
qualified language  you  have  employed.  And  what  is  this  solitary 
proof  of  my  bpd  faith?  Here  it  is.  I  said  that  England  had 
urged  our  government  to  enter  into  stipulations  for  suppressing 
the  slave  trade,  to  which  we  had  yielded.  I  am  "startled"  my- 
self at  the  importance  you  attach  to  my  views  of  this  matter,  and 
to  the  gravity  of  the  proof  these  have  led  to.  I  have  already  re- 
marked, that  all  the  world  supposed  Lord  Ashburton  came  here 
with  propositions  upon  this,  as  well  as  upon  some  other  subjects, 
in  dispute  between  the  two  governments ;  and,  at  the  moment  I 
am  writing,  I  find  in  the  papers  an  extract  of  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Everett  to  you,  presented  to  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Mr. 
Gushing,  which  fully  confirms  my  previous  impressions.  In  that 
letter  Air.  Everett  says,  he  was  told  by  Lord  Aberdeen,  on  the 
27th  of  December,  1841,  that  Lord  Ashburton  was  going  to  the 
United  States  "with  full  power  to  settle  any  point  in  discussion, 
imbodying  what  was  called  the  right  of  search,  which  was  the  most 
difficult."  And  another  incident  comes  opportunely  to  confirm 
all  thi«.  Tt  is  the  statement  of  a  senator,  who,  from  his  position, 
ought  to  know  the  circumstances,  and  who,  from  his  high  charac- 
ter, is  entitled  to  all  credit.  Colonel  King  said,  in  the  senate,  on 
the  23d  ultimo,  speaking  of  the  claim  to  visit  our  vessels,  "It  was 
intolerable.''  Here,  then,  was  a  direct  point  of  collision,  and  that 
was  what  brought  Lord  Ashburton  to  this  country  with  the  view 
of  adjusting  this  difficulty. 

I  may  express  the  surprise  I  felt  when  I  read  the  following  par- 
agraph in  your  last  letter,  urged  with  as  much  emphasis,  as  though 
the  merits  of  the  treaty,  and  of  our  whole  controversy,  turned  up- 
on this  point.  Truly,  when  such  undue  importance  is  given  to  a 
topic,  so  little  meriting  it,  when  its  discussion  occupies  seven  folio 
pages  of  your  last  letter,  and  three  pages  of  its  predecessor,  and 
when  the  view  you  present  is  most  elaborately  prepared,  I  may 
well  presume  that  a  substantial  defence  of  your  various  positions 
is  not  easily  found.  This  is  the  paragraph : 

"Suppose  your  letter  to  go  before  the  public  unanswered  and 
uncontradicted ;  suppose  it  to  mingle  itself  with  the  general  polit- 
ical history  of  the  country,  as  an  official  letter  among  the  archives 
of  the  Department  of  State ;  would  not  the  general  mass  of  readers 
understand  you  as  reciting  facts,  rather  than  as  drawing  your  own 
conclusions  ?  as  stating  history,  rather  than  as  presenting  an  argu- 
ment ?  It  is  of  an  incorrect  narrative  that  the  President  complains ; 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  201 

it  is  that,  in  your  hotel  in  Paris,  you  should  undertake  to  write  a 
history  of  a  very  delicate  part  of  a  negotiation  carried  on  at  Wash-, 
ington,  with  which  you  had  nothing  to  do,  and  of  which  you  had 
no  authentic  information  ;  and  which  history,  as  you  narrate  it, 
reflects  not  a  little  on  the  independence,  wisdom,  and  public  spirit 
of  the  administration." 

Strange,  indeed,  that  this  "history,"  and  "narrative,"  and  "del- 
icate part  of  a  negotiation,"  &,c.,  &.C.,  &,c.,  are  to  be  charged  to  a 
simple  suggestion,  or  assertion  if  you  please,  that  Lord  Ashburton 
came  over  to  make  propositions  to  the  government,  respecting  the 
slave  trade,  which  were  accepted. 

But,  before  quitting  this  topic,  I  shall  appeal  to  your  own  author- 
ity. You  remarked  to  me,  in  your  letter  of  November  14th,  that 
"the  United  States  yielded  to  no  application  from  England.  The 
proposition  for  abolishing  the  slave  trade,  as  it  stands  in  the  treaty, 
was  an  American  proposition :  it  originated  with  the  executive  go- 
vernment of  the  United  States,  which  cheerfully  assumed  its  re- 
sponsibility." You  remarked,  in  your  letter  of  December  20th, 
"Now,  the  English  minister  no  more  presented  the  subject  for  ne- 
gotiation, than  the  government  of  the  United  States  presented  it; 
nor  can  it  be  said,  that  the  United  States  consented  to  its  intro- 
duction, in  any  other  sense,  than  it  may  be  said,  that  the  British 
minister  consented  to  it."  All  this  is  too  diplomatic  for  me.  I 
can  neither  clearly  comprehend  what  is  meant  in  the  last  quotation, 
nor,  so  far  as  I  comprehend  it,  can  I  reconcile  it  with  the  other. 
Whether  either  fairly  contradicts  my  suggestion,  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  slave  trade  stipulation  into  the  treaty,  was  due  to  the 
application  of  England,  I  leave  to  those,  who  are  more  competent 
to  judge  your  language  than  I  am,  to  determine.  At  first,  it  is  a 
guarded  proposition,  that  the  provision,  as  it  stands  in  the  treaty, 
is  the  work  of  the  American  government;  and,  at  last,  this  pro- 
vision owes  its  paternity,  as  much  to  one  government  as  to  the 
other. 

But  I  may  well  appeal  to  your  own  candor  to  say,  if  the  special 
pleading  in  the  first  quotation  meets  the  issue  between  us.  I  said 
we  consented  to  the  introduction  of  the  slave  trade  stipulation  into 
the  treaty,  upon  the  application  of  England,  and  you  do  not  spare 
your  reproof  for  this  assertion,  through  ten  pages  of  your  letters, 
because  the  proposition,  as  it  stands  in  the  treaty,  was  an  Ameri- 
can proposition. 

But,  if  you  mean  by  all  this,  that  Lord  Ashburton  did  not  make 
any  proposition  to  our  government  upon  this  subject,  but  that  you 
pressed  it  upon  him,  as  you  would  seem  to  intimate,  in  order  to 
repel  the  suggestion  I  made,  then  I  must  be  permitted  to  say,  that 
there  is  nothing  more  extraordinary  in  all  our  diplomatic  history. 
I  shall  not  enlarge  upon  this  topic,  but  merely  ask,  what  benefit 
an  American  negotiator  saw  for  his  country  in  this  arrangement 
connecting  us  with  another  nation,  and  exposing  us,  both  in  prin, 
ciple  and  practice,  to  consequences,  which  human  sagacity  cannot 


202  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

even  conjecture  ?  I  will  ask,  in  the  words  of  the  President's  mes- 
sage, what  adjustment  of  a  difficulty  of  great  magnitude  and  im- 
portance, in  relation  to  this  matter,  took  place,  if  it  was  not  this 
very  question  ?  What  other  "  embarrassment  (still  in  the  words 
of  the  message)  was  connected  with  the  African  slave  trade  V 
Both  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord  Aberdeen,  in  1841,  expressly  dis- 
avowed the  right  to  search  American  vessels,  with  a  view  to  pre- 
vent their  engaging  in  the  slave  trade.  They  both  declared,  and 
Sir  Robert  Peel  repeated  the  declaration  in  his  late  speech,  (I 
quote  the  words  of  the  last :)  "The  right  of  search,  connected  with 
American  vessels,  we  entirely  disclaim.  Nay,  more ;  if  we  knew 
that  an  American  vessel  was  furnished  with  all  the  materials,  re- 
quisite for  the  slave  trade,  &.C.,  still  we  should  be  bound  to  let  that 
vessel  pass  on."  And  that  our  government  knew  these  views,  is 
distinctly  stated  by  the  President,  in  his  message,  who  says  that 
Lord  Aberdeen  "expressly  disclaimed  all  right  to  detain  an  Amer- 
ican ship  on  the  high  seas,  even  if  found  with  a  cargo  of  slaves  on 
board,  and  restricted  the  pretension  to  a  mere  claim  to- visit  and 
inquire."  This  claim,  the  President  adds,  "  was  regarded  as  the 
right  of  search,  presented  only  in  a  new  form,  and  expressed  in 
different  words,  and  I  therefore  felt  it  my  duty  to  declare,  in  my 
annual  message  to  Congress,  that  no  such  concession  could  be 
made  ;  and  that  the  United  States  had  both  the  ability  and  inclin- 
ation to  enforce  their  own  laws,"  &c.  1  repeat,  then,  what  other 
point  remained  to  be  adjusted  upon  this  general  subject,  but  this 
very  claim  of  visitation  ?  and  if  this  was  not  adjusted,  as  it  is  now 
clear  it  was  not,  what  "adjustment"  did  take  place?  And  why  was 
the  stipulation  introduced  into  the  treaty,  as  though  we  could  not 
keep  a  squadron  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  execute  our  own  laws, 
without  binding  ourselves  in  a  solemn  convention  with  Great  Bri- 
tain to  do  so  ?  And  all  this  you  intimate,  without  even  a  request 
on  her  part ! 

I  here  close  this  controversy ;  and  I  shall  close  the  correspond- 
ence by  a  few  remarks  upon  the  serious  position,  in  which  our 
country  is  now  placed.  It  affords  me  no  pleasure  to  find  that  all 
I  foretold  respecting  the  course  of  the  British  government,  in  rela- 
tion to  this  pretension  to  search  our  ships,  has  been  signally  con- 
firmed by  the  recent  declaration  of  Sir  Robert  Peel.  The  accom- 
plishment has  soon,  too  soon  followed  (he  prediction.  I  said,  in 
my  letter  to  you  of  February  15th,  1842,  as  I  have  already  stated, 
that  England  rarely,  if  ever,  abandoned  a  pretension,  and  that  in 
my  opinion  she  would  enforce  this.  And  in  my  letter  to  you  of 
December  llth,  1842,  speaking  of  the  probability  that  she  would 
carry  into  effect  her  doctrine,  I  said  :  "That  she  will  do  so  when 
her  interest  requires  it,  I  have  no  more  doubt  than  I  have  that  she 
has  already  given  abundant  proofs,  that  the  received  code  of  pub- 
lic law  is  but  a  feeble  barrier,  when  it  stands  in  the  way  of  power 
and  ambition.  Both  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord  Aberdeen  tell  us 
she  will."  And  now,  a  greater  than  either  has  said  so,  and,  as  the 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  203 

London  Times  expresses  it,  he  has  said  it  in  the  most  emphatic 
manner.  And  what,  then,  is  our  position?  Sir  Robert  Peel  has 
declared  that  the  British  government  never  will  relinquish  this 
claim  to  search  our  vessels,  calling  it  a  visitation  ;  and  the  Lon- 
don Times,  the  great  exponent  of  the  principles  and  purposes  of 
the  English  government  and  aristocracy,  said,  on  the  31st  of  last 
December,  a  month  before  this  declaration,  that,  "England  has  not 
abandoned  one  tittle  of  her  claim  (to  search  our  vessels;)  the  treaty 
does  not  afford  the  smallest  presumption,  that  she  has ;  and  the 
United  States  would  find  that  the  right  would  continue  to  be  un- 
flinchingly, (aye,  that  is  the  word,)  unflinchingly  exercised."  And 
it  adds,  that  this  "essential  right  of  the  British  navy"  would  never 
be  relinquished.  Sir  Robert  Peel  is  a  cautious  statesman.  He 
does  not  deal  in  abstractions.  He  does  not  make  declarations  in 
the  face  of  the  world,  to  remain  inoperative,  particularly  when  such 
declarations  are  cheered  by  both  sides  of  the  House,  in  a  manner 
to  show,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  they  are  responded  to  by  the  public 
feeling  of  the  country.  And  the  Times,  well  informed  of  the  views 
of  the  government  a  month  before  they  were  communicated  to  the 
nation,  would  not  have  said  that  the  right  would  be  unflinchingly 
exercised,  if  it  were  to  remain  a  dead  letter. 

We  all  know  to  what  this  pretension  leads,  and  to  what  it  is  in- 
tended to  lead  :  that  it  will  virtually  subject  our  whole  commercial 
marine  to  the  English  navy.  It  is  an.insult  to  the  common  sense 
of  the  world  to  talk  about  a  difference,  in  their  effects,  between  a 
search  for  one  purpose,  and  a  search  for  another ;  and  to  call  a ' 
search  to  ascertain  the  character  of  a  vessel,  and  to  carry  her  in- 
for  condemnation — at  the  will  of  a  midshipman,  perhaps,  if  he  be- 
lieves, or  affects  to  believe  she  belongs  to  one  country  and  claims 
to  belong  to  another — to  that  great  gulf,  always  ready  to  swallow 
American  property,  a  British  court  of  admiralty — to  call,  I  say, 
such  a  search  a  visitation,  and,  by  this  change  of  name,  to  justify 
the  pretension — all  this  was  reserved  for  the  nineteenth  century. 
For,  what  is  a  "  visitation?"  It  is  not  enough  to  look  at  the  flag; 
for  any  "  bunting,"  as  Lord  Palmerston  calls  it,  may  be  hoisted. 
It  is  not  enough  to  look  at  the  men,  for  all  marines  contain  foreign- 
ers, as  well  as  natives.  It  is  not  enough  to  look  at  the  papers,  for 
these  may  be  simulated.  It  is  not  enongh  to  look  at  the  log-book, 
for  that  may  be  false  or  forged.  It  is  not  enough  to  look  at  the 
cargo,  for  that  proves  nothing.  But  it  is  obvious,  that  all  these 
will  be  looked  at  to  satisfy  the  inquisitor  and  his  inquisition. 

The  London  $«n  said,  last  year,  very  justly,  "If  the  Americans 
sanction  the  examination  of  their  ships,  for  the  mere  purpose  of 
ascertaining  if  a  vessel  bearing  the  American  flag  is  bona  jide  an 
American  vessel,  they  sanction  a-  rigid  examination  of  the  vessel 
herself."  And  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  right  to  exam- 
ine presupposes  the  right  to  send  in,  if  the  examination  is  not  sat- 
isfactory to  the  officer,  and  to  condemn  if  not  satisfactory  to  the 
judge.  What  follows,  let  our  history  from  1793  to  1815  tell. 


904  LIFE    OF   GENERAL   CASS. 

But  this  is  the  least  injury,  sought  to  be  entailed  upon  us. 
Heretofore,  agreeably  to  her  own  doctrine,  England  could  only  im- 
press our  seamen  in  time  of  war;  for  she  claimed  the  right  to  board 
our  vessels,  merely  as  a  belligerent  right,  which  ceased  when  she 
was  at  peace.  And  she  conceded — and  so  said  the  Prince  Regent, 
in  his  celebrated  declaration  of  January  9th,  1813,  in  answer  to 
the  manifesto  of  the  American  government — that  a  British  cruiser 
could  not  board  an  American  ship  for  the  purpose  of  impressment; 
but  that,  having  once  entered  under  a  legal  right,  then  the  board- 
ing officer  could  seize  whoever  he  pleased,  to  be  transferred  to  a 
foreign  navy,  there  to  fight  against  his  own  country.  Now,  the 
British  government  has  devised  a  plan,  by  which  our  vessels  may 
be  boarded  in  time  of  peace,  and  thus  the  whole  seamen  of  the 
United  States  may  be  placed  at  the  disposition  of  England,  in  peace 
and  war. 

We  now  understand  the  full  value  of  impressment,  and  why  Lord 
Ashburton  would  not  relinquish  it  ;  and  we  understand  what  the 
London  Times  means,  when  it  says  that  "  this  right  of  visitation, 
which  is  to  be  'unflinchingly  exercised,'  is  essential  to  the  British 
navy." 

No  pretension,  in  modern  times,  has  advanced  more  rapidly  than 
this.  It  is  but  a  year  or  two  since  Lord  Stowell,  the  well-known 
English  admiralty  judge,  solemnly  decided  that  "no  nation  can  ex- 
ercise a  right  of  visitation  (mark  that  word)  and  search  upon  the 
common  and  unappropriated  part  of  the  ocean,  except  upon  the 
belligerent  claim."  And  still  later,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  said, 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  "that  if  there  was  one  point  more  to  be 
avoided  than  Bnother,  it  was  that  relating  to  the  visitation  of  ves- 
sels belonging  to  the  (American)  Union."  The  first  time  we  heard 
of  this  pretension,  as  a  serious  claim,  was  from  Lord  Palmerston 
on  the  27th  of  August,  1841,  and  the  next  was  from  Lord  Aber- 
deen on  the  13th  of  October  following:  and  it  was  then  put  forth 
as  "indispensable  and  justifiable,"  in  the  execution  of  certain  slave 
trade  treaties,  formed  with  the  "States  of  Christendom."  Now, 
the  British  government  claim  that  it  has  become  a  settled  part  of 
the  law  of  nations.  And  our  ships  are  to  be  searched,  says  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  to  ascertain  if  a  "grievous  wrong  has  not  been  done 
to  the  American  flag."  This  is  really  one  of  the  most  extraordi- 
nary assumptions  of  modern  days.  Our  flag  is  to  be  violated,  to 
see  if  it  has  been  abused  !  The  whole  country  knows  where  the 
"grievous  wrong"  would  be,  if  this  principle  were  carried  into 
practice. 

It  becomes  every  American  to  ask,  if  he  is  prepared  to  yield  this 
right  of  search.  For  myself,  I  think  it  is  better  to  defend  the  out- 
works, than  the  citadel :  to  fight  for  the  first  inch  of  territory  rather 
than  for  the  last ;  to  maintain  our  honor  when  attacked,  rather 
than  to  wait  till  we  have  none  to  be  attacked  or  maintained ;  and 
such,  I  trust  and  hope,  will  be  the  unwavering  determination  of 
the  government  and  of  the  country. 


LIFE    OF   GENERAL   CASS.  205 

What  I  anticipated,  whea  I  commenced  this  letter,  has  come  to 
pass.  The  documents  called  for  by  Colonel  Benton  have  been  sent 
into  the  Senate,  as  I  perceive  by  the  last  papers.  Your  recent 
letter  will  now  go  out  with  the  others,  and  reach  the  American 
people.  I  have  no  means  of  clearing  myself  from  the  difficulties 
you  have  spread  around  me,  but  by  submitting  my  views,  as  you 
have  submitted  yours,  to  the  decision  of  the  country.  I  am  now  a 
private  citizen.  Twice,  since  I  became  such,  you  have  presented 
to  me,  in  elaborately  prepared  documents,  your  sentiments  upon 
some  important  topics,  arising  out  of  the  late' treaty.  These  docu- 
ments now  make  part  of  the  political  history  of  the  country.  There 
are,  therefore,  no  considerations  of  duty  nor  of  propriety  to  restrain 
me  from  appealing  to  the  same  great  tribunal  to  judge  between  us: 
from  endeavoring  to  redeem  myseli  from  some  severe  charges  you 
have  made  against  me.  I  have  been  written  at,  but  the  public 
have  been  written  to.  I  shall,  therefore,  not  hesitate  to  authorize 
the  immediate  publication  of  this  letter,  being  little  disposed  to 
leave  it  to  be  buried  in  the  archives  of  the  Department  of  State. 

At  the  moment  of  signing  my  letter,  the  President's  message  of 
February  27th,  1843,  respecting  the  treaty  of  Washington  and  the 
right  of  search,  has  reached  me.  I  think  every  American  should 
go  with  the  President  in  his  reprobation  of  this  doctrine.  I  refer, 
however,  to  the  message,  to  say,  that  had  it  been  in  my  possession 
when  the  body  of  this  letter  was  prepared,  I  should  have  quoted  it 
instead  of  quoting  the  other  messages,  because  in  this  the  views 
are  more  elaborately  prepared  than  in  those,  showing  that  the  claim 
of  visitation  was  perfectly  comprehended  by  our  government  when 
this  treaty  was  negotiated;  that  it  was  denounced  as  wholly  inad- 
missible, and  that  the  treaty  was  supposed  to  have  made  "  a  prac- 
tical settlement  of  the  question." 

One  or  two  reflections  force  themselves  upon  my  mind,  which- 
I  shall  submit  to  you,  even  at  this  late  moment. 

In  the  first  place,  this  claim  to  search  our  vessels,  under  the 
pretence  of  visiting  them,  though  connected  in  its  origin,  or  rather 
announced  as  connected,  with  the  African  slave  trade,  is  co-exten- 
sive with  the  ocean.  The  principle,  upon  which  it  rests,  so  far 
as  it  rests  on  any,  are  of  universal  application.  For,  wherever 
a  British  cruiser  meets  a  vessel  bearing  the  American  flag,  such 
cruiser  may  wish  to  know  if  a  "  grievous  wrong"  has  been  com- 
mitted, and  whether  she  is  truly  what  she  appears  to  be. 

Such  are  the  necessary  consequences  of  this  doctrine,  and  such 
we  now  ascertain  is  the  extent  to  which  it  is  to  be  pushed.  It  is 
distinctly  announced  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  in  his  late  speech,  that 
this  right  of  visitation  is  not  necessarily  connected  with  the  slave 
trade,  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the  Times,  which  says,  "  that  this 
right  has  obviously  no  intrinsic  or  neccessary  connection  with 
the  slave  trade,"  and  "that  it  is  a  part  of  the  marine  code  of 
nations." 

How,  then,  could  a  conventional  arrangement,  obliging  us  to 


206  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

keep  a  squadron  upon  the  coast  of  Africa,  guard  against  its  exer- 
cise, or  "supersede,"  in  the  words  of  the  message,  "any  supposed 
necessity,  or  any  motive,  for  such  examination  or  visit?"  Again, 
How  could  it  guard  against  these  effects,  even  if  the  operation  of 
the  doctrine  were  limited  to  search  or  visitation  in  slave  trade  lat- 
itudes ?  England  said  to  us — We  have  made  a  treaty  with  France, 
by  which  we  have  a  right  to  search  her  ships,  and  to  send  them  in 
for  condemnation,  if  they  are  engaged  in  the  slave  trade.  If  we 
cannot  search  your  ships,  we  cannot  execute  this  treaty,  because 
a  French  vessel,  by  hoisting  an  American- flrg,  will  place  herself 
beyond  the  reach  of  our  cruisers;  therefore  we  shall  visit  your 
ships. 

Now,  it  is  manifest,  that  our  squadron  upon  the  coast  of  Africa, 
will  not  change  in  the  slightest  degree  this  state  of  things.  A 
French  vessel  may  still  hois't  the  American  flag,  and  thus  protect 
a  cargo  of  slaves,  so  far  as  this  protects  it,  in  any  part  of  the  great 
ocean,  from  the  African  coast  to  the  coast  of  Brazil.  Is  this 
squadron  of  eighty  guns,  or  is  any  vessel  of  it,  to  be  every  where  ? 
And  where  it  is  not,  what  will  prevent  any  ship  from  placing  an 
American  flag  at  its  masthead  ? 

I  am  stating,  not  defending,  the  British  doctrine,  and  I  do  not 
enter  here,  into  those  obvious  considerations,  which  demonstrate 
its  fallacy  and  injustice.  This  I  have  attempted  elsewhere,  but 
with  what  success  it  does  not  become  me  to  judge.  I  attempted 
to  show,  that  because  any  of  the  "  States  of  Christendom"  choose 
rto  form  treaties  for  the  attainment  of  objects,  military,  commercial, 
or  philanthropic,  such  mutual  arrangements  give  them  no  right  to 
change  the  established  laws  of  nations,  and  to  stop  and  search  our 
vessels  upon  the  great  highway  of  the  world.  It  is  the  slave  trade 
to-day,  but  it  may  be  the  sugar  trade  to-morrow,  and  the  cotton 
trade" the  day  after.  But  besides,  it  is  obvious  that  all  cases  put 
by  the  British  political  casuists,  in  support  of  this  new  doctrine, 
are  mere  questions  of  identity,  where  he  who  does  the  deed  and 
boards  the  vessel  acts,  not  upon  his  right,  but  upon  his  responsi- 
bility, and,  like  the  sheriff  who  arrests  a  person  upon  a  writ,  is  jus- 
tified, or  not,  according  to  the  result. 

But  it  is  clear,  that  this  claim,  as  asserted,  is  not  at  all  incon- 
sistent with  our  new  treaty  stipulation  ;  that  this  stipulation  does 
not  render  unnecessary  the  exercise  of  the  claim ;  and,  therefore, 
that  as  it  does  not  expressly,  so  neither  does  it  by  fair  implication, 
"make  a  practical  settlement"  of  the  question;  nor  does  "the 
eighth  article"  remove  "all  possible  pretext,  on  the  ground  of  mere 
necessity,  to  visit  and  detain  our  ships  upon  the  African  coast, 
because  of  the  alleged  abuse  of  our  flag  by  slave  traders  of  other 
nations." 

Very  respectfully,  &c., 

LEW.  CASS. 

Hon.  DANIEL  WEBSTER, 

Secretary  vf  State,  Washington. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

The  apprehensions  entertained  by  Gov.  Cass,  were  realized  by 
the  construction  which  the  English  ministry  gave  to  the  treaty,  on 
this  point  of  negotiation.  They  insisted,  that  by  the  treaty  no 
concession  had  been  made  by  England  of  her  claim  of  right  to 
stop  and  search  our  vessels.  This  was  the  objection  urged  by 
Gov.  Cass,  and  the  nation  against  which  he  was  directing  his 
efforts,  through  her  ministry,  singularly  confirmed  his  argument,  in 
opposition  to  the  ground  assumed  by  Mr.  Webster.  The  question 
was  left,  bv  the  treaty,  in  the  condition  in  which  the  negotiation 
found  it.  The  parties  to  it,  differed  in  their  understanding  of  its 
meaning,  and  the  British  government  made  no  secret  of  its  inten- 
tion to  deny  the  construction  placed  npon  the  treaty  by  the  United 
States  government.  It  distinctly  said,  that  the  right  of  search 
never  formed  the  subject  of  discussion  during  the  negotiation,  nor 
was  any  concession  required  by  the  United  States  or  made  by 
Great  Britain.  In  this  discussion  Gov.  Cass  took,  from  the  first, 
high  grounds,  and  successfully  maintained  them.  He  demonstrated 
the  inutility  of  insisting  that  a  concession  had  been  made,  when, 
in  fact,  there  was  none.  "  Let  us,"  said  he,  "  abandon  all  profit- 
less diplomatic  discussion,  and,  strong  in  our  rights,  let  us  meet 
the  first  violation  of  our  flag,  which  is  committed  by  order  of  the 
British  government,  as  nations  ought  to  meet  systematic  attacks 
upon  their  honor  and  independence." 

"  I  trust,"  said  he,  on  another  occasion,  "  we  shall  resist  this 
monstrous  pretension,  to  the  last  extremity  ;  if,  in  doing  so,  war 
comes,  let  it  come — there  are  evils  greater  than  war,  and  a  nation 
which  abandons  its  honor  and  forfeits  its  self  respect,  must  become 
the  reproach  of  its  cotemporaries,  and  its  name  a  bye-word  to 
posterity." 

Beyond  question,  Gov.  Cass  established  the  fact,  that  Great  Bri- 
tain, in  seeking  to  obtain  the  ratification  of  the  quintuple  treaty, 
had,  especially,  if  not  solely,  in  view  the  enslavement  of  the  trade 
and  commerce  of  the  world,  and  to  subject  them  to  her  control, 
and  make  them  tributary  to  her  aspiring  greatness.  How  much, 
then,  do  we,  as  Americans,  owe  ;  how  much  does  the  world  not 
owe  to  the  decisive  action  of  Gov.  Cass,  which  protected  their 
rights  from  being  swallowed  in  the  rapacious  maw  of  an  ambitious 
and  grasping  nation? 


208  LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS. 

Mr.  Webster,  though  so  formidable  an  antagonist,  was  com- 
pletely overwhelmed  by  the  force  of  argument  brought  against  his 
treaty,  by  Gov.  Cass.  The  letter  of  Gov.  Cass,  dated  March  7th, 
1843,  was  never  answered  by  Mr.  Webster.  He  merely  informed 
Gov.  Cass,  in  a  brief  note,  that  he  had  cursorily  glanced  at  a  por- 
tion of  it,  and,  after  more  attentive  perusal,  if  occasion  required, 
he  would  reply  to  it  at  length.  This  he  never  found  "  occasion" 
to  do.  To  this  day,  the  reasoning  and  argument  of  Gov.  Cass 
stand  without  even  an  attempt  at  refutation  from  the  g«eat  negoti- 
ator and  constitutional  expounder. 

The  discussion  with  Mr.  Webster,  had  the  happy  effect  of  plac- 
ing Gov.  Cass,  in  his  true  light,  before  his  country.  His  fellow 
citizens  admired  his  boldness  and  skill,  in  baffling  the  schemes  of 
Great  Britain  ;  and  they  sustained  him  in  his  objections  to  the 
treaty  of  Washington.  With  their  approbation  cheering  him,  he 
could  well  bear  with  composure  the  attacks  of  his  political  oppo- 
sers  and  the  vulgar  vituperation  and  abuse  of  foreign  peers  and 
presses. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Gov.  Case'  opportunities  for  acquiring  knowledge  of  the  schemes  of  diploma- 
tists— His  success  in  thwarting  their  plots  against  the  welfare  of  his  country — 
His  return  to  the  United  States — The  reception  given  to  him  by  the  people  of 
Boston — Letter  from  Gen.  Jackson — The  welcome  extended  to  him  by  the  cit- 
izens of  the  towns  and  villages  through  which  he  passed  on  his  journey  to  De- 
troit— His  letter  to  the  Committee  of  the  Democratic  Convention  of  Indiana — 
Gen.  Cass  regarded  by  the  people  as  a  Candidate  for  the  Presidency — Public 
opinion,  The  annexation  of  Texas — Gen.  Case'  letter  advocating  annexation, 
The  Baltimore  Convention  of  1841 — Gov.  Cass'  letter  read  in  that  Conven- 
tion— His  name  withdrawn  for  the  sake  of  union  and  harmony — Nomination  of 
James  K.  Polk — Gov.  Cass  supports  the  nomination — Meets  his  fellow  citizens 
in  various  parts  of  the  country  and  advocates  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk — Great 
Democratic  victory. 

Gov.  Cass  from  his  position  in  public  life  has  enjoyed  opportu- 
nities of  acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  schemes  and  plans, 
formed  by  European  Cabinets  to  promote  their  particular  aggran- 
dizement. His  accurate  perception  and  tact  has  enabled  him  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  to  frustrate  the  deep  laid  and  well  disguised 
plots  of  the  most  celebrated  and  able  diplomatists  of  Europe.  Men 
of  all  political  parties  in  the  United  States,  with  some  few  excep- 
tions, hare  been  forced  by  the  palpable,  self  evident  benefits  de- 
rived from  his  services,  to  award  to  him  the  credit  of  obtaining 
them,  when  from  political  prejudice,  they  would  gladly  have  with- 
held their  admission.  The  gratification  of  receiving  an  approving 
voice  from  his  political  opponents,  has  been  enjoyed  by  Gov.  Cass, 
to  an  extent,  unequalled  in  the  career  of  any  other  eminent  citi- 
zen of  the  Republic,  since  the  days  of  Washington. 

He  was  greeted  on  his  arrival  in  this  country,  by  the  applaud- 
ing voice  of  his  countrymen,  without  distinction  of  party.  He 
was  regarded  and  treated  as  the  man  of  the  nation.  His  "faith- 
ful services  and  energetic  proceedings  at  an  important  crisis  in 
his  distinguished  mission"  to  use  the  language  of  the  citizens  of 
Boston,  had  endeared  him  to  every  American  heart,  whose  feel- 
ings sought  expression  in  some  public  acknowledgement  of  their 
gratitude.  There  was  all  over  the  country  a  spontaneous  exhibi- 
tion of  admiration  and  esteem,  for  the  man  who  unawed  by  the 
14 


310  LIFE    OF    GENERAL   CASS. 

potentates  of  the  old  world,  stood  forth,  even  then  unsustained  by 
his  own  government,  their  single  opposer,  when  they  attempted  to 
interpolate  in  the  maritime  law  of  the  world,  their  selfish  concep- 
tions of  their  own  interests,  involving  an  outrage  upon  the  Ameri- 
can flag,  and  an  infringement  of  the  rights  of  American  Seamen. 
It  was  truly  a  sublime  spectacle,  and  the  people  loved  to  picture 
it  before  them,  when  the  plain  and  unostentatious  representative 
of  this  free  Republic,  at  the  proudest  Court  of  Europe,  surrounded 
by  the  aoble,  and  learned,  and  experienced  ministers  of  the  Great 
Powers — arose  in  the  might  of  the  great  principles  he  advocated 
and  said  to  them  in  the  thunder  tones  of  an  American  freeman 
"my  Country  will  have  none  of  this — she  will  never  submit  to  have 
her  ships  stopped  on  their  course  by  any  or  all  of  the  nations  of 
the  world." 

The  following  letter  signed  by  numerous  distinguished  citizens 
<*Tthe  New  England  Metropolis  is  but  one  of  hundreds  of  similar 
expressions  of  public  opinion. 

"BOSTON,  Dec.  7,  1842. 

SIR  : — The  undersigned  citizens  of  New  England,  would  con- 
gratulate your  Excellency  on  your  safe  return  to  your  native  coun- 
try after  your  faithful  services  and  energetic  proceedings  at  an 
important  crisis  in  your  distinguished  mission ;  and  respectfully 
request  that  you  will  give  them  and  their  fellow-citizens  an  oppor- 
tunity of  expressing  personally  the  high  respect  which  your  public 
•-career  and  private  virtues  have  uniformly  inspired. 

"Returning  as  you  do  with  the  approbation  of  that  generous 
people,  who  were  the  first,  and  for  a  long  time,  the  only  friends  of 
our  fathers,  we  should  prefer  that  the  meeting  should  be  at  such  a 
time  as  would  suit  your  convenience,  in  Faneuil  Hall, — the  spot 
in  which  of  all  others,  Americans  would  desire  to  welcome  her  de- 
serving ones. 

"We  are,  with  sentiments  of  the  highest  consideration,  your 
Excellency's  most  obedient  servants. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  which  so  seldom  exists  in  the 
career  of  public  officers,  that  it  excites  our  surprize  when  it  oc- 
curs, that  in  regard  to  Gen.  Cass  no  objection  was  ever  made  to 
the  manner  in  which  he  conducted  the  most  difficult  and  intricate 
functions  of  the  numerous  offices,  which  he  filled.  Seven  times  in 
succession  and  under  four  successive  Presidents,  he  was  nomina- 
ted Governor  of  Michigan,  and  seven  times  confirmed  by  the  Uni- 
ted States  Senate  without  a  single  vote  against,  or  a  single  represen- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  211 

tation  against  him  from  the  hardy  pioneers  over  whom  he  presided. 
The  venerable  occupant  of  the  Hermitage,  whose  personal  inter- 
est in  the  success  of  Gov.  Cass,  was  amply  satisfied  by  its  results, 
addressed  the  following  letter  of  warm  approval  to  the  Gov. 

To  the  Hon  LEWIS  CASS  : — 

HERMITAGE,  July  1843. 

My  Dear  Sir  : — I  have  the  pleasure  to  acknowledge  your  friendly 
letter  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  May  last.  It  reached  me  in  due  course 
of  mail  :  but  such  were  my  debility  and  afflictions,  that  I  have  been 
prevented  from  replying  to  it  until  now ;  and  even  now  it  is  with 
difficulty  that  I  write,  In  return  for  your  expressions  with  regard 
to  myself,  I  have  to  remark,  that  I  shall  ever  recollect,  my  dear 
General,  with  great  satisfaction,  the  relations,  both  private  and  of- 
ficial, which  subsisted  between  us,  during  the  greater  part  of  my 
administration.  Having  full  confidence  in  your  abilities  and  re- 
publican principles,  I  invited  you  to  my  Cabinet ;  and  I  can  never 
forget  with  what  discretion  and  talents  you  met  those  great  and 
delicate  questions  which  were  brought  before  you  whilst  you  pre- 
sided over  the  department  of  war,  which  entitled  you  to  my  thanks, 
and  will  be  ever  recollected  with  the  most  lively  feeling  of  friend- 
ship by  me. 

But  what  has  endeared  you  to  every  true  American,  was  the 
noble  stand  which  you  took,  as  our  minister  at  Paris,  against  the 
quintuple  treaty,  and  which,  by  your  talents,  energy,  and  fearless 
responsibility,  defeated  its  ratification  by  France — a  treaty  intend- 
ed by  Great  Britain,  to  change  our  international  laws,  make  her 
mistress  of  the  seas,  and  destroy  the  national  independence,  not 
only  of  our  own  country,  but  of  all  Europe,  and  enable  her  to  be- 
come the  tyrant  on  every  ocean,  Had  Great  Britain  obtained  the 
sanction  to  this  treaty,  (with  the  late  disgraceful  treaty  of  Wash- 
ington— so  disreputable  to  our  national  character,  and  injurious  to 
our  national  safety)  then,  indeed  we  might  have  hung  up  our  harps 
upon  the  willow,  and  resigned  our  national  independence  to  Great 
Britain.  But,  T  repeat,  to  your  talents,  energy,  and  fearless  re- 
sponsibility, we  are  indebted  for  the  shield  thrown  over  us  from  the 
impending  danger  which  the  ratification  of  the  quintuple  treaty  by 
France  would  have  brought  upon  us.  For  this  act,  the  thanks  of 
every  true  American,  and  the  applause  of  every  true  republican, 
are  yours ;  and  for  this  noble  act  1  tender  you  my  thanks. 
Receive  assurance  of  my  friendship  and  esteem. 

•       ANDREW  JACKSON. 

In  the  principle  cities  and  towns  of  the  Union,  the  presence  of 
Gov.  Cass,  created  a  desire  among  all  classes,  to  see  and  talk  with 
the  man  who  had  by  his  straightforward  advocacy  of  freedom  and 
republicanism,  drawn  the  claws  from  the  feet  of  the  British  Lion. 
His  visit  to  Washington,  immediately  on  his  return,  created  great 


212  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

sensation  there,  not  only  among  the  the  people,  but  among  the 
leading  politicians  of  the  land.     They  saw,  the  future  President 
of  the  United  States.     They  felt,  that  sooner  or  later,  Lewis  Cass, 
would  be  th^ Chief  Magistrate  of  this  Union.     Remaining  inWash- 
ington  until  nearly  the  close  of  January,  Gov.  Cass  then  left  on  his 
journey  homewards  to  Detroit.    His  route  was  through  Pennsylvania 
and  Ohio,  in  accordance  with  the  expressed  wishes  of  the  citizens 
of  those  states,  who  wished  to  receive  and  take  by  the  hand,  the* 
man  who  led  their  volunteers  to  war  in   1812,  and   who,  thirty 
years  afterwards,  again   baffled  the  same  foe  against  the  liberties 
and  rights  of   his  country,   whom   he  assisted,  to  overthrow  on 
the  banks  of  the  river  Thames.     His  route  was  one  continued 
scene  of  triumph,  the  more  grateful  as  it  was  the  spontaneous,  un- 
solicited oblation  of  gratitude  and  esteem,  to  one  who  was  then  a 
private  citizen,  without  the  attractions  or   the  power  of  high  of- 
ficial station.     As  Gov.  Cass   approached  the  boundaries  of  his 
own  state,  the  people  became  enthusiastic  in  their  preparations  to 
receive  him.     The  municipal  authorities,  and  literary  and  me- 
chanical associations,  united  with  private  citizens,  to  show,  in  an 
impressive  and  becoming  manner,  their  appreciation  of  the  benefits, 
they  as  citizens  had  received  from  his  services. 

The  citizens  of  Detroit  were  stimulated  by  emulation  in  their  ar- 
rangements for  his  reception.  A  committee  proceded  by  rail  road 
to  meet  the  Governor  at  Ypsilanti,  and  escort  him  to  the  city. 
They  arrived  at  the  depot  in  Detroit,  on  the  fourteenth  of  Febru- 
ary, about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Here  they  were  met  by 
a  large  concourse  of  citizens,  who,  with  the  Governor  of  the  state, 
members  of  the  legislature,  the  military  and  civic  associations  had 
assembled  to  welcome  home,  their  friend  and  fellow  citizen.  The 
proceedings  were  alike  creditable  to  the  people,  and  gratifying  to 
the  object  of  their  attentions.  Dr.  Houghton,  the  Mayor  of  Detroit, 
in  behalf  of  the  citizens,  received  Gov.  Gass,  with  an  appropriate 
address,  to  which  the  Gov.  replied  in  a  beautiful  and  touching 
manner,  alluding  to  his  early  connection  with  Michigan,  when 
though  he  had  the  misfortune  to  behold  a  foreign  flag  replace  that 
of  our  own  upon  the  site  of  our  beautiful  city,  it  was  permitted  him 
in  the  Providence  of  God,  to  aid  in  the  expulsion  of  the  enemy  and 
erect  again  the  national  banner  over  our  city  and  strait.  He  spoke 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  213 

of  the  fortitude  and  fidelity  of  our  early  citizens,  in  braving  the 
evils  of  those  times,  and  in  adhering  to  their  country,  when  the 
woes  of  that  period,  when  danger  and  suffering  and  death,  were 
the  consequences  of  their  allegiance.  Briefly  and  pertinently 
touching  upon  other  topics,  connected  with  the  history  of  Michi- 
gan, and  called  to  his  mind  by  the  scene  before  him,  in  contrast 
with  what  he  had  seen  and  experienced,  when  war  had  scattered 
destruction  throughout  this  region,  when  the  inhabitants  were 
dispersed  and  impoverished,  when  there  was  not  a  church  nor 
school  house,  nor  a  court  house;  nor  a  bridge,  nor  a  road  in  the 
whole  country ;  when  the  best  part  of  the  territory  was  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Indians — he  spoke  of  the  welcome  his  countrymen  had 
given  him  after  seven  years  absence  from  his  native  land.  With 
an  emotion  that  betrayed  how  deeply  he  was  affected  by  the  COR- 
gratulations  of  his  friends,  he  remarked,  "  from  the  time  I  set  foot 
upon  my  native  shore  at  Boston,  to  this  last  manifestation  of  good 
-will  I  have  to  acknowledge  the  spontaneous[proofs  of  regard,  every 
where  shown  to  me,  and  the  recollection  of  which  will  disappear, 
but  with  the  termination  of  life." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremony  of  reception,  Gov.  Cass  was 
escorted  by  the  Battalion  of  Frontier  Guards,  and  a  long  proces- 
sion of  citizens,  to  his  rooms  at  Dibble's  Exchange. 

Circumstances  pointed  to  Gov.  Cass,  as  prominent  among  the 
number  of  eminent  statesmen  of  the  country,  from  whom  the  se- 
lection of  chief  magistrate  would  be  made.  But  little  more  than 
a  year  would  elapse  before  a  Presidential  election  would  occur. 
During  his  absence,  several  questions  of  public  policy  had  arisen, 
upon  which  the  people  were  divided  in  opinion,  and  in  regard  to 
which  he  had  enjoyed  no  opportunity  of  expressing  his  views. 
Having  consented,  at  the  earnest  entreaty  of  many  influential  and 
patriotic  citizens,  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  highest  office  in 
the  gift  of  the  people,  he  had  no  reluctance  in  frankly  and  openly 
declaring  his  opinions.  He  was  addressed  on  the  subject,  by  a 
prominent  democrat  of  Michigan,  in  a  letter,  containing  interroga- 
tories in  regard  to  the  leading  measures  which  then  agitated  the 
public  mind.  To  this  letter  he  replied  with  promptness,  and  in  a 
clear  and  comprehensive  manner  laid  before  the  people  of  the  Union 
his  political  sentiments.  This  declaration  of  principles  is  a  cate- 


214  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

gorical  reply  to  the  inquiries  made  in  the  letter.  He  declared  him- 
self to  be  opposed  to  the  incorporation  by  government  of  a  National 
Bank,  under  any  form  or  pretence  whatever :  first,  because  the 
power  to  do  so  is  not  granted  by  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States;  and,  second,  because  public  opinion  had  pronounced  itself 
against  such  an  institution.  On  the  subject  of  the  Tariff,  Gov. 
Cass'  sentiments  accorded  with  those  of  the  great  mass  of  the  de- 
mocrats of  the  Union.  He  expressed  himself  in  favor  of  an  eco- 
nomical expenditure — a  tariff  producing  enough,  with  the  sales  of 
the  public  lands,  to  meet  this  expenditure,  and  so  divided  among 
the  various  articles  of  importation  as  to  protect  our  own  manufac- 
tures by  reasonable  duties ;  and  within  these  limits,  a  practical  ap- 
plication of  the  just  principles  of  free  trade  to  our  foreign  com- 
merce, seem  to  him  to  comprehend  the  outlines  of  the  duties  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States  upon  these  difficult  topics.  He 
was  opposed  to  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands 
among  the  different  States,  and  in  favor  of  appropriating  them  to 
the  support  of  the  government. 

In  regard  to  his  position  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  he 
declared  that  he  should  be  bound  by  the  decision  of  the  Democra- 
tic General  Convention. 

A  few  weeks  previous  to  the  publication  of  the  letter  just  alluded 
to,  the  Democratic  State  Convention  of  Indiana  had  solicited  the 
views  of  Gov.  Cass  upon  the  same  questions  which  formed  the  sub- 
ject of  inquiry  in  the  above  mentioned  letter.  The  reply  of  Gov. 
Cass  was  more  extended,  and  his  examination  of  the  subject  more 
in  detail  than  on  the  latter  occasion.  But  at  the  time  when  he  was 
written  to,  by  the  citizen  of  Michigan,  his  letter  to  the  Indiana 
Convention  had  not  been  made  public.  It  was  soon  afterwards 
published ;  and  as  it  discusses  in  a  most  admirably  lucid  manner 
the  different  subjects  of  inquiry,  and  is  so  plain  and  unconcealed 
an  avowal  of  opinion  on  measures  of  great  importance  to  our  coun- 
try, it  is  here  given  at  length. 

COLUMBUS,  Ohio,  Feb.  8th,  1843. 

Gentlemen  :  Your  letter,  enclosing  the  resolutions  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Convention  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  was  addressed  to  me  at 
Washington,  but  did  not  reach  that  city  till  after  I  had  left  there. 
It  was  then  forwarded  to  me  at  this  place,  and  in  consequence  of 
having  stopped  upon  the  route,  considerable  delay  has  occurred  in 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  215 

its  receipt.      I  make  this  explanation  to  account  for  that  de  lay. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  answer  the  questions  proposed  by  the 
convention,  briefly,  but  frankly  ;  satisfied  it  will  be  more  agree- 
able to  yourselves,  and  your  colleagues  of  the  convention,  that  I 
should  be  explicit,  than  that  I  should  be  led  into  tedious  disser- 
tations. 

With  respect  to  a  National  Bank,  I  have  to  remark,  that  I  hare 
always  entertained  doubts  of  the  power  of  Congress  to  charter  such 
an  institution.  The  indirect  process  by  which  this  power  is  dedu- 
ced from  a  very  general  provision  of  that  instrument,  has  never 
been  satisfactory  to  me.  But  there  is  the  less  necessity  for  enter- 
ing more  in  detail  into  the  constitutional  question,  as  it  seems  to 
me  the  public  voice  has  pronounced  itself,  and  justly,  against  the 
incorporation  of  any  national  bank  by  Congress.  No  such  insti- 
tution should,  in  my  opinion,  be  established. 

In  answer  to  the  second  question,  which  relates  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  among  the  several  States, 
I  reply,  that  I  think  no  such  distribution  should  be  made.  I  will 
state,  in  a  few  words,  the  ground  of  this  opinion.  The  necessary 
revenue  for  the  support  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,, 
must  come  from  the  people,  and  it  must  be  supplied  by  direct  or 
indirect  taxation,  or  by  the  sale  of  public  property.  The  general 
sentiment  is  opposed  to  direct  taxation  by  the  general  government 
in  time  of  peace  ;  and  of  course  there  are  left  but  the  other  two 
sources  of  supply  to  meet  its  expenses.  Their  proceeds  must 
constitute  the  revenue  of  the  country ;  and  if  one  of  them  is  ab- 
stracted or  diminished,  an  additional  burthen  is  thrown  upon  the 
other.  Whatever  sum  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  government 
may  require,  if  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  make  no  part  of 
it,  the  whole  must  be  raised  by  taxation.  If  they  make  part  of  it, 
then  the  amount  of  taxation  is  diminished  by  the  sum  supplied  by 
these  proceeds.  It  follows  that  any  proposition  to  divert  the  pro- 
ceeds of  these  lands  from  the  support  of  government  is  in  fact  but 
a  proposition  to  lay  taxes  upon  the  people.  If  a  permanent  annual 
revenue  of  eighteen  millions  of  dollars  is  necessary  for  an  eco- 
nomical administration  of  the  government,  and  if  two  millions  of 
these  are  produced  by  the  sales  of  public  lands,  let  the  source  of 
this  supply  be  diverted  to  some  other  object,  and  these  two  millions 
must  be  provided  by  the  imposition  of  taxes.  All  this  is  too  clear 
to  need  further  illustration.  A  proposition  then  to  distribute  the 
proceeds  of  the  public  lands  among,  the  several  States,  is,  in  effect, 
but  a  proposition  to  increase  the  taxation  of  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  through  the  medium  of  the  general  government,  in  order 
that  the  amount,  thus  increased,  may  be  paid  into  the  treasuries  of 
the  respective  States.  To  me  it  appears  perfectly  clear  that  what- 
ever may  be  the  annual  sum  produced  by  the  sale  of  lands,  that 
sum  is  a  part  of  the  revenue  of  the  country,  and  that  it  is  just  as 
competent  for  Congress  to  take  any  other  two  millions,  supposing 
that  to  be  the  amount,  from  the  public  treasury,  and  divide  them 


216  LIFE    OF    GENERAL   CASS. 

among  the  States,  as  to  select  for  that  purpose  the  dollars  actually 
produced  by  the  land  sales.  It  seems  to  me  that  such  a  course  of 
action  would  be  injurious  in  practice,  dangerous  in  principle,  and 
without  warrant  in  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  The 
theory  of  our  political  institutions,  is  familiar  to  us  all.  The  gov- 
ernments of  the  confederated  States  have  their  respective  rights 
and  duties  clearly  defined,  and  each  within  its  proper  sphere,  is 
independent  of  the  others,  each  raises  and  expends  its  revenue, 
and  performs  all  the  necessary  functions  of  a  sovereign  Stale. 
What  right  has  one  to  interfere  with  another,  unless  in  cases  mark- 
ed out  by  the  constitution  itself?  If  the  general  government  can 
provide  a  revenue  for  the  respective  States,  and  does  provide  one, 
it  is  clear  that  one  great  distinctive  feature  of  our  political  system 
will  disappear,  and  that  the  relations  between  the  con  federation  as 
such,  and  the  individual  States  composing  it,  will  be  wholly 
changed.  Human  sagacity  cannot  foretel  what  would  be  the  en- 
tire result  of  this  state  of  things,  but  it  is  easy  to  predict  that  this 
new  application  of  the  money  power  would  give  to  the  government 
of  the  United  States  a  strength  never  contemplated  by  the  Ameri- 
can people,  and  irreconcilable  with  our  constitutional  organization, 
and  that  it  would  lead  to  a  habit  of  dependence  on  the  part  of  the 
Slates,  by  which  their  efficiency  to  resist  any  encroachments  of  the 
general  government  would  be  paralysed.  Without  pushing  these 
considerations  further,  I  conclude  this  branch  of  the  subject  by 
repeating,  that,  in  my  opinion,  no  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of 
the  public  lands  should  be  made. 

The  subject  of  the  protective  tariff  has  been  so  long  and  ably 
discussed,  that  it  would  be  useless  for  me  to  do  more  than  to  give 
you  the  result  of  my  views.  I  think,  then,  that  the  revenue  of  the 
government  ought  to  be  brought  down  to  the  lowest  point  compati- 
ble with  the  performance  of  its  constitutional  functions  ;  and  that 
in  the  imposition  of  duties,  necessary,  with  the  proceeds  of  the 
public  lands,  to  provide  this  revenue,  incidental  protection  should 
be  afforded  to  such  branches  of  American  industry  as  may  require 
it  This  appears  to  me  not  only  constitutional,  but  called  for  by 
the  great  interests  of  the  country  ;  and  if  a  protective  tariff  upon 
this  principle,  were  wisely  and  moderately  established,  and  then 
left  to  its  own  operation,  so  that  the  community  could  calculate 
upon  its  reasonable  duration,  and  thus  avoid  ruinous  fluctuations, 
we  might  look  for  as  general  acquiescence  in  the  arrangement,  as 
we  can  ever  expect  in  questions  of  this  complicated  kind,  when 
local  feelings  have  been  enlisted,  which  a  prudent  legislature  must 
consult,  more  or  less,  and  endeavor  to  reconcile. 

A  proposition  to  amend  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  is 
one  which  I  should  always  receive  with  great  caution.  There  is 
already  in  our  country  too  great  a  disposition  to  seek,  in  changes 
of  the  laws  and  constitutions,  remedies  for  evils  to  which  all  socie- 
ties are  more  or  less  liable ;  instead  of  leaving  them  to  find  their 
own  cure  in  the  operation  of  the  ordinary  causes  which  act  upon 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  217 

communities.  It  is  often  better  to  suffer  a  partial  inconvenience, 
than  rashly  to  alter  the  fundamental  principles  of  a  political  system. 
Stability  is  better  than  change,  when  change  is  not  decidedly  called 
for.  I  am  not  aware  that  the  exercise  of  the  veto  power  has,  for 
many  years,  produced  any  injury  to  the  public  service.  On  the 
contrary,  I  think  in  those  cases  where  it  has  been  recently  interpo- 
sed, it  has  been  properly  applied,  and  that  its  action  has  been  ap- 
proved by  a  great  majority  of  the  people.  I  see,  therefore,  no  prac- 
tical evil  which  demands,  in  this  respect,  a  change  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States.  Should  cases  of  that  nature  occur,  it 
will  then  be  time  to  seek  the  proper  remedy. 

With  great  respect,  gentlemen,  I  have  the  honor  to  be 

Your  obedient  servant, 

LEWIS  CASS. 
To  ETHAN  A.  BROWN,  JOHN  LAW,  NATHANIEL  WEST,  JOHN  PETIT, 

JESSE  D.  BRIGHT,  and  A.  C.  PEPPER,  Esquires, 

Meetings  were  called  in  various  places  throughout  the  Union, 
to  give  expression  to  the  sentiments  of  the  people  in  regard  to  a 
Presidential  candidate.  In  the  spring  of  1843,  a  large  meeting 
was  held  in  Cincinnati,  at  which  an  address  and  resolutions  were 
adopted,  setting  forth  the  claims  of  Gov.  Cass  to  the  Presidency. 
Mr.  Calhoun,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  Mr. 'Buchanan,  Col.  Benton,  and 
Col.  R.  M,  Johnson,  were  among  the  aspirants  for  that  high  sta- 
tion; All  of  them  fully  qualified  to  administer  the  government 
with  honor  and  advantage.  In  canvassing  their  qualifications,  the 
meeting  acknowledged  their  eminent  fitness  for  the  office,  but  could 
not  avoid  the  conviction  that  there  was  a  sectionality,  so  to  speak, 
attached  to  each  of  them,  which  would  not  fail  to  have  its  influ- 
ence, when  they  came  before  the  whole  people  for  their  suffrages. 
To  the  permanent  and  complete  success  of  the  democratic  party, 
it  was  deemed  necessary  to  support  the  man  who,  in  the  language 
of  the  address,  "  could  go  before  the  American  people,  comman- 
ding the  most  heartfelt  enthusiasm,  and  combining  the  most  ele- 
ments of  success  ;  and  such  a  man  is  Lewis  Cass — a  man  who  ex- 
emplifies in  his  own  person  and  history  one  of  the  best  traits  of 
our  institutions." 

Sentiments  similar  to  these,  and  assemblages  of  the  same  kind, 
were  common  throughout  the  Union.  The  distinguished  object  of 
these  manifestations  of  favor  and  regard,  was  at  the  time  quietly 
and  happily  residing  with  his  family,  in  the  city  of  Detroit,  and  for 
the  first  time  in  thirty  years,  liberated  from  the  cares  and  anxieties 
of  public  office. 


218  LIFE   OF   GENERAL   CASS. 

In  1843  and  1844  the  public  mind  became  deeply  absorbed  in 
the  then  approaching  Presidential  election.  The  opinions  of  the 
prominent  candidates  for  the  Presidency,  on  the  most  important 
questions  of  policy,  were  published,  the  preferences  of  the  people 
were  ascertained  and  declared  in  primary  meetings,  the  contest 
awakened  more  than  ordinary  feeling  among  all  classes  of  commu- 
nity. The  whig  party  conceiving  themselves  deceived  by  the 
presidential  acts  of  John  Tyler,  whom  they  had  elected  Vice  Presi- 
dent, with  Gen.  Harrison,  were  active  and  energetic  in  preparing 
for  the  campaign.  It  was  well  settled  long  before  the  meeting  of 
the  National  Whig  Convention,  that  the  whig  party  would  again 
bring  forward  as  their  Candidate,  Henry  Clay,  who  was  then  uni- 
versally recognized  as  the  embodiment  of  the  various  elements  of 
their  party  organization.  Their  success  in  1840,  stimulated  them 
with  the  hope  that  they  could  again  be  victorious  at  the  ballot  box, 
even  with  a  candidate  who  had  several  times  been  defeated.  The 
democratic  party,  surprised  by  the  unexpected  success  of  their  op- 
ponents were  alike  active  and  vigilant.  Among  so  many  able 
statesmen  adorning  the  ranks  their  principal  difficulty  was  in  ma- 
king the  selection  of  a  candidate.  It  was  the  general  impression 
that  their  defeat  in  1840  was  more  justly  ascribable  to  fraud  and 
corruption,  to  delusion  and  misunderstanding,  rather  than  an  op- 
position to  their  principles  or  a  lukewarmness  in  their  advocacy. 
A  portion  of  the  party  were  of  opinion  that  a  severe  rebuke  should 
be  given  to  those  who  had  used  such  unhallowed  means  to  over- 
throw the  democratic  party.  They  deemed  that  no  more  unwel- 
come punishment  could  be  inflicted  upon  the  whig  party,  or  a  more 
effectual  vindication  of  their  principles  achieved  than  the  election 
of  Martin  Van  Buren  the  defeated  candidate  of  1840.  Upon  this 
ground  a  portion  of  the  democratic  party  were  in  favor  of  again 
nominating  him  for  the  presidency.  Politicians  declared  that  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  would  produce  in  the  democratic 
ranks  "ardor  and  enthusiasm"  in  his  support;  that  the  masses 
would  rally  to  his  support  with  a  spirit  and  generous  enthusiasm 
that  would  be  resistless.  But  the  masses  did  not  respond  to  this 
feeling.  They  saw  Mr.  Van  Buren  distanced  in  the  contest  with 
Gen.  Harrison  ;  they  saw  the  man  who  went  into  the  Presidential 
chair  in  1837  with  the  democratic  party  in  the  zenith  of  its  strength 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CA8S.          .  219 

leave  it  in  1841  with  his  party  prostrate  and  powerless.  But  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  numbered  among  his  personal  friends,  many  able 
statesmen,  as  well  as  skillful  and  accomplished  tacticians.  Their 
political  talent,  their  experience  in  management,  their  facil- 
ities for  manufacturing  public  opinion,  and  giving  a  bias  to  the 
popular  will,  were  all  brought  to  bear  effectually,  upon  the  ob- 
ject, that  was  nearest  their  hearts.  More  than  one  State  Conven- 
tion, was  thus  induced  to  give  public  and  somewhat  authoritative 
avowal  to  a  preference  for  Mr.  Van  Buren.  Such  expression 
might  with  reason  be  regarded  as  a  true  exponent  of  popular  feel- 
ing and  rightly  so,  where  on  comparison,  with  the  declarations 
of  the  people  themselves  in  their  primary  meetings,  they  are  found 
to  correspond.  But  it  is  far  safer  to  regard  the  adopted  resolves 
of  a  delegated  body,  as  more  surely  indicating  the  preferences  of 
a  majority  of  the  individuals  composing  it,  than  those  of  the  mass 
for  whom  they  are  acting.  That  such  was  the  case,  with  many  of 
the  democratic  state  conventions  of  1844,  is  abundantly  establish- 
ed by  the  fact,  that  in  many  of  the  states,  where  a  preference  for 
Mr.  Van  Buren,  was  thus  Conventionally  declared,  the  people  in 
their  home  meetings,  then  public  gatherings  and  caucuses,  in  ef- 
fect nullified  the  action  of  their  delegates  by  declaring  their  choice 
to  be  some  one  of  the  other  aspirants  to  the  same  office.  The 
effect,  of  this  difference  of  opinion  was  visible,  when  the  National 
Convention  assembled.  Delegates  who  were  impliedly  bound  by 
{he  preference  of  the  body  which  appointed  them,  voted,  in  obedi- 
ence to  what  they  knew  to  be  the  popular  will,  directly  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  expression  of  the  appointing  Convention,  but  in  accor- 
dance with  the  wishes  and  predilections  of  four  fifths  of  the  de- 
mocracy of  the  State  they  represented. 

There  is  a  mighty  though  calm  power  in  the  voice  of  the  people. 
The  petty  manoeuvres  of  politicians — the  intrigues  of  designing 
men,  no  matted  how  skillfully  framed  ultimately  bend  in  subjec- 
tion to  its  potential  demands.  It  has  a  force  which  will  not  brook 
resistance.  Like  truth  itself,  in  its  purity  and  strength,  it  sooner 
or  later  prostrates  all  opposition. 

While  the  friends  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  were  acti rely  engaged  in 
creating  a  public  opinion  to  operate  in  his  favor  upon  the  national 
convention,  the  other  eminent  candidates,  remained  in  dignified 


220  LIFE   OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

and  becoming  inactivity,  trusting  to  their  own  merits  as  distin- 
guished sons  of  the  Republic,  having  full  confidence  in  the  intel- 
ligence and  discrimination  of  their  fellow  democrats.  Gov.  Cass, 
made  no  personal  effort,  to  increase  the  favorable  estimation  he  had 
acquired  among  the  people.  Frank  and  unequivocal  declarations 
of  his  political  sentiments  he  had  cheerfully  made,  when  called  up- 
on, and  he  was  satisfied  with  leaving  the  decision  of  the  Presiden- 
tial nomination 'with  the  representatives  of  the  democracy. 

Not  long  prior  to  the  agitation  of  this  subject,  the  administration 
concluded  a  treaty  with  the  authorities  of  Texas  whereby  she  was 
admitted  as  one  of  the  states  of  the  Union.  Public  opinion  was 
divided,  though  not  equally,  upon  the  policy  of  this  measure,  and 
the  candidates  for  the  Presidency  were  interrogated  upon  their 
views  of  this  act  of  the  government.  A  majority  of  them  approved 
the  act.  Mr.  Van  Buren  opposed  it.  The  venerable  Jackson, 
though  not  a  candidate  for  office,  came  forth  from  his  retirement 
and  energetically  advocated  the  proceeding.  But  from  no  one,  did 
the  measure  meet  with  more  hearty  approval,  than  it  did  from  Gov. 
Cass.  When  asked  if  he  was  favorable  to  the  immediate  annexa- 
tion of  Texas,  his  reply  was  "  I  am."  The  letter  of  Gov.  Cass,  to 
Hon.  Edward  Hannegan,  declaring  his  opinion,  is  unequivocal  and 
determined. 

DETROIT,  May  10,  1844. 

In  answer  to  your  inquiry  whether  I  am  favorable  to  the  imme- 
diate annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States,  I  reply  that  I  am. 
As  you  demand  my  opinion  only  of  this  measure,  and  briefly  the 
reasons  which  influence  me,  I  shall  confine  myself  to"  these  points. 

I  shall  not  dwell  upon  the  policy  of  uniting  coterminous  coun- 
tries situated  like  ours  and  Texas,  with  no  marked  geographical 
features  to  divide  them,  and  with  navigable  streams  penetrating  the 
limits  of  both.  Nor  upon  the  common  origin  of  the  people  who 
inhabit  them;  upon  the  common  manners,  language,  religion,  in- 
stitutions, and  in  fact,  their  identity  as  a  branch  of  the  human 
family.  Nor  shall  I  urge  the  material  interests  Involved  in  the 
measure,  by  the  free  intercourse  it  would  establish,  between  the  va- 
rious sections  of  a  vast  country,  mutually  dependent  upon,  and 
supplying  one  another.  These  considerations  are  so  obvious,  that 
they  need  no  elucidation  from  me. 

But  in  a  military  point  of  view,  annexation  strikes  me  as  still 
more  important,  and  my  mind  has  been  the  more  forcibly  impress- 
ed with  this  idea  from  reading  the  able  letter  of  Gen.  Jackson,  up- 
on this  subject,  which  has  just  come  under  my  observation.  With 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  221 

the  intuition,  which  makes  part  of  the  character  of  that  great  man,, 
and  pure  patriot,  he  has  foreseen  the  use  which  a  European  enemy 
might  make  of  Texas  in  the  event  of  a  war  with  the  United  States. 
A  lodgement  in  that  country  would  lay  open  the  whole  South 
Western  border  to  his  depredations.  We  could  establish  no  for- 
tress, nor  occupy  any  favorable  position  to  check  him,  for  the  im- 
mense frontier  may  in  a'vast  many  places  be  crossed  as  readily  as 
a  man  passes  from  one  part  of  his  farm  to  another.  The  advanta- 
ges an  active  enemy  would  enjoy  under  such  circumstances,  it  re- 
quires no  sagacity  to  foretell. 

These  considerations  recall  to  my  memory  an  article,  which 
made  its  appearance  just  before  I  left  Europe,  in  a  leading  Tory 
periodical  in  England,  which  is  understood  to  speak  the  sentiments 
of  a  powerful  party.  This  is  Frazer's  Magazine,  and  a  more  ne- 
farious article  never  issued  from  a  profligate  press.  It  ought  to  be 
stereotyped  and  circulated  from  one  end  of  our  country  to  the 
other,  to  show  the  designs  which  are  in  agitation  against  us,  and 
to  teach  us  that  our  safety  in  that  mighty  contest  which  is  coming 
upon  us,  is  in  a  knowledge  of  our  danger,  and  in  a  determination 
by  union,  and  by  a  wise  forecast  to  meet  it  and  defeat  it.  The 
spirit  of  this  article  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  its  title,  which  is  "  a 
war  with  the  United  States,  a  blessing  to  mankind."  I  cannot  re- 
fer to  it  at  this  moment,  but  must  speak  of  it  from  recollection.  I 
have  often  been  surprised  it  has  not  attracted  more  attention  in 
our  country.  Its  bbject  was  to  excite  a  war  with  the  United  States, 
and  to  lay  down  the  plan  of  a  campaign,  which  would  soonest  bring 
it  to  a  fortunate  conclusion  for  England.  The  basis  of  this  plan- 
was  the  organization  of  a  necessary  black  force  in  the  West  India 
Islands,  and  its  debarcation  upon  our  Southern  coast.  The  con- 
sequences which  our  enemies  fondly  hoped  for  in  such  a  case,  but 
with  an  entire  ignorance  of  the  true  state  of  the  couutry,  were  fore- 
told with  a  rare  union  of  philanthropy  and  hatred.  I  wish  I  had 
the  number  at  hand  to  cull  some  choice  passages  for  your  reflec- 
tion. The  result  was  to  be  destruction  of  the  Southern  States,  the 
ruin  or  depression  of  the  others,  and  the  dissolution  of  this  great 
and  glorious  confederacy,  on  which  the  last  hopes  of  freedom 
through  the  world  now  rest. 

What  more  favorable  position  could  be  taken  for  the  occupation 
of  English  black  troops,  and  for  letting  them  loose  upon  the  South- 
ern States  than  is  afforded  by  Texas  ?  Incapable  of  resisting,  in 
an  event  of  a  war  between  us  and  England,  she  would  be  taken 
possession  of  by  the  latter  under  one  or  another  of  those  pretenses 
which  every  page  of  her  history  furnishes,  and  the  territory  would 
become  the  depot  whence  she  would  carry  on  her  operations  against 
us,  and  attempt  to  add  a  servile  war  to  the  other  calamities  which 
hostilities  bring  with  them.  He  who  doubts  whether  this  would 
be  done  has  yet  to  learn  another  trait  in  the  annals  of  national  an- 
tipathy. It  would  be  done  and  would  be  called  philanthropy. 
Every  day  satisfies  me  more  and  more,  that  a  majority  of  the 


222  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

American  people  are  in  favor  of  annexation.  Were  they  not,  the 
measure  ought  not  to  be  affected.  But  as  they  are,  the  sooner  it 
is  effected  the  better.  I  do  not  touch  the  details  of  the  negotiation. 
That  must  be  left  to  the  responsibilities  of  the  government,  as  also 
must  the  bearing  of  the  question  upon  its  reception  by  other  coun- 
tries. Those  are  points  I  do  not  here  enter  into. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

LEWIS  CASS. 
Hon.  EDWARD  HANNEGAN. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  Democratic  National  conven- 
tion met  at  Baltimore  on  the  first  day  of  May  1844.  On  the  bal- 
lotings  it  appeared  that  Messrs  Van  Buren,  Cass,  R.  M.  John- 
son, Buchanan,  Woodbury,  Calhoun  and  Stewart,  severally  had 
supporters  in  the  convention.  The  first  two,  were  the  strongest 
Candidates.  The  convention  adopted  the  rule  of  the  conventions 
of  1832  and  1835  requiring  the  nominee  to  be  chosen  by  a  vote  of 
two  thirds  of  the  members  of  the  convention  voting.  There  were 
two  hundred  and  fifty  delegates  in  the  convention  and  the  requi- 
site number  of  votes  for  a  nomination  was  176.  On  the  first  bal- 
lotting  Mr.  Van  Buren,  had  much  the  largest  vote,  but  not  within 
twenty  of  the  required  number.  As  the  ballotting  proceeded,  Cass 
gained  strength  and  on  the  seventh  ballot  received  twenty  four 
votes  more  than  Mr.  Van  Buren.  On  the  eighth  ballot,  Massa- 
chusetts cast  five,  Pennsylvania  two,  Maryland  one,  Alabama  nine, 
Lousiana  six,  and  Tennessee  thirteen  votes  for  James  K.  Polk  of 
Tennessee.  The  announcement  of  another  and  entirely  unexpec- 
ted Candidate  for  Presidential  honors,  seemed  to  present  an  oppor- 
tunity to  the  friends  of  Casa  and  Van  Buren  of  selecting  a  can- 
didate who  would  be  acceptable  to  the  supporters  of  both  those 
gentlemen  in  the  convention.  The  convention  proceeded  to  a 
ninth  ballot  during  which  the  New  York  and  Virginia  delegates 
withdrew  to  consult  on  the  best  course  to  be  adopted.  New  York 
had  uniformly  and  unanimously  supported  Mr.  Van  Buren.  Vir- 
ginia had  steadily  cast  her  vote  for  Gov.  Cass  ;  upon  their  re- 
turn into  the  convention  both  States  cast  their  vote  for  Mr.  Polk. 

That  there  might  be  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  an  unanimous 
choice  by  the  convention  of  a  candidate.  Gov.  Cass  had  author- 
ized his  name  to  be  withdrawn.  Hon.  Edward  Bradley  a  delegate 
from  Michigan  announced  the  following  letter  to  the  Convention. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

DETROIT,  May  19,  1844. 

GENTLEMEN  : — It  is  possible,  that  my  name,  among  others,  may 
come  before  the  convention,  which  is  about  to  meet  at  Baltimore. 
I  am  at  a  distance,  and  can  do  nothing  to  meet  the  contingencies, 
which  may  arise  during  its  discussion.  You  will  all  do  me  the 
justice  I  am  sure,  to  say  that  I  have  taken  as  little  part  in  passing 
events,  as  it  was  possible  for  any  man,  in  my  position,  to  take.  I 
have  sat  still,  quietly  awaiting  the  result,  and  determined  to  be 
satisfied  with  it,  whatever  that  might  be. 

Though  your  first  choice  for  President  has  been  directed  to  the 
eminent  statesman,  who  has  already  so  ably  administered  the  gov- 
ernment, still  it  is  possible  that  circumstances  affecting  neither  his 
services  nor  his  merits,  may  induce  you  to  seek  some  other  candi- 
date, and  in  that  event,  if  state  pride  should  not  supply  my  other 
deficiencies  and  lead  your  attention  to  me,  it  may  yet  create  some 
interest  in  my  position,  and  a  desire  that  I  should  dishonor  neither 
myself,  our  party  nor  the  state.  I  have  thought  therefore  I  might 
so  far  calculate  upon  your  indulgence,  as  to  briefly  lay  before  you 
my  sentiments  under  existing  circumstances,  and  to  ask  your  aid 
in  carrying  my  intentions  into  effect. 

I  never  sought  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  When  in 
France,  I  declined  being  a  candidate,  in  answer  to  an  application 
made  to  me  by  a  respectable  committee  of  citizens  of  Philadelphia. 
When  I  returned  I  found  my  name  was  before  the  country,  and 
the  matter  seemed  to  have  been  taken  up  by  my  friends,  and  to 
have  passed  beyond  my  control.  I  often  regretted  this,  and  fre- 
quently vacillated,  respecting  the  course  I  ought  to  adopt,  till  time 
and  events  took  from  me  the  power  of  decision.  I  mention  these 
impressions  to  show  you,  that  in  reaching  the  conclusion,  at  which 
I  have  now  arrived,  and  am  about  to  announce  to  you,  I  have  made 
no  sacrifice  of  feeling,  and  shall  experience  no  regret, 

We  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact,  that  dissentions  exist  in 
the  ranks  of  our  party,  which  threaten  its  defeat.  Without  form- 
ing any  opinion  respecting  their  origin  and  progress,  their  exis- 
tence is  enough  to  excite  the  solicitude  of  all,  who  believe  that  the 
prosperity  of  the  country  is  closely  connected  with  the  success  of 
the  Democratic  party. 

I  hope  and  trust,  that  a  wise  spirit  of  conciliation  wi'J  animate 
the  Baltimore  Convention,  and  that  its  decision  will  restore  to  us 
harmony  and  confidence.  But  I  have  determined  not  to  be  in  the 
way  of  this  desirable  result.  And  it  is  the  purpose  of  this  letter 
to  announce  to  you  this  resolution.  Should  it  be  thought  by  the 
convention,  with  reasonable  unanimity,  that  the  party  had  better 
present  my  name  to  the  country,  I  shall  submit,  and  prepare  my- 
self for  the  contest.  But  if  there  is  such  a  division  of  opinion  on 
the  subject  as  to  show,  that  a  hearty  and  united  exertion  would  not 
be  made  in  my  favor,  I  beg  you  to  withdraw  my  name  without  hes- 
itation. We  shall  need  all  our  force  in  the  coming  struggle.  If 
that  is  exerted,  we  shall  succeed — if  not,  we  shall  fail.  I  will 


224  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CAS?. 

neither  put  to  hazard  the  Democratic  party,  nor  have  any  agency 
in  bringing  the  election  into  the  House  of  Representatives,  one  of 
the  trials  to  be  most  deprecated  under  our  Constitution. 

These,  gentlemen,  are  my  views,  and  if  necessary,  I  beg  you 
to  announce  them,  and  to  declare  me  not  a  candidate,  in  case  there 
is  not  reasonable  hope  that  the  party  will  unite  in  my  favor.  I  do 
not  doubt,  that  in  such  an  event  my  friends  will  abandon  all  per- 
sonal predilection,  and  prove  their  devotion  to  principles,  by  a  zeal- 
ous support  of  the  nominee  of  the  Convention. 

With  gr»at  regard, 
I  am  gentlemen, 

Your  ob't  servant, 

LEW.  CASS. 

To  the  Delegates  from  the  State  of  Michigan,  to  the  Baltimore 
Convention. 

The  Convention  unanimously  nominated  Mr.  Polk  for  the  Presi- 
dency, and  subsequently  Geo.  M.  Dallas  of  Pennsylvania  for  Vice 
President. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Convention,  received  from  Gen.  Cass, 
his  sincere  and  active  support.  When  the  result  was  known  at 
Detroit,  the  democracy  of  that  ancient  city,  overlooking  their  own 
disappointment  in  not  having  their  favorite  candidate  and  fellow 
citizen,  presented  to  them,  rallied  en  masse  to  respond  to  the  no- 
mination. At  this  meeting  Gov.  Cass  was  present  and  addressed 
his  fellow  democrats,  enjoining  them  to  support  the  nominations 
with  their  accustomed  zeal,  and  energy.  He  said  "  he  had  come 
there  to  take  part  in  the  proceedings,  to  express  his  hearty  concur- 
rence in  the  nominations  made  by  the  Baltimore  Democratic  Con- 
vention, and  to  announce  his  determinat  ion  faithfully  to  support 
them.  The  democratic  party  had  just  passed  through  a  crisis 
which  served  to  prove  the  integrity  of  its  principle,  and  the  inter- 
nal strength  of  its  cause.  After  many  differences  of  opinion,  dif- 
ferences however  about  men,  and  not  measures,  the  Convention 
had  chosen  a  man  whose  private  character  was  irreproachable,  and 
who,  in  various  public  stations  had  given  proof  of  his  ability,  and 
firmness  and  devotion  to  those  principles  which  the  democratic  par- 
ty deemed  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  our  own  country  and  the 
perpetuation  of  her  free  institutions.  Nothing  now  is  wanting  to 
ensure  success,  but  united  exertion,  and  that  we  must  and  will  have. 
Let  us  put  behind  us  the  divisions  and  preferences  of  the  past, 
and  join  in  one  common  effort,  to  promote  the  triumph  of  our  cause, 


LIFE    OE    GENERAL    CASS.  225 

victory  is  in  our  power,  and  let  us  attain  it.  Let  every  one  feel, 
and  fulfill  his  duty." 

The  efforts  of  Gov.  Cass  in  support  of  the  nominations  were  not 
confined  to  the  vicinity  of  his  home.  In  the  different  towns  of 
Michigan,  and  of  other  states  he  met  assembled  crowds  of  the  de- 
mocratic party,  and  encouraged  them  by  precept  and  example  to 
bring  their  mighty  power  to  bear  with  all  its  strength  upon  the 
great  point  of  success  in  the  approaching  election.  Active  co-ope- 
ratiori,  from  Gen.  Cass  or  from  any  individual  holding  the  relation 
that  that  he  did  to  the  successful  candidate  of  the  convention,  was 
more  than  was  to  be  expected.  But  no  petty  jealousy — no  disaf- 
fection severed  him,  a  moment  from  the  full  and  efficient  advocacy 
of  the  claims  of  the  nominee  to  the  entire  support  of  the  democ- 
racy. This  exhibition  of  disinterestedness  influenced  many  a  wa- 
vering democrat,  to  decide  firmly  upon  adopting  the  line  of  duty, 
and  sacrifice  his  personal  inclinations,  upon  the  altar  of  principle. 

The  cheerful  acquiescence  and  approval,  expressed  by  the  pro- 
minent men  who  were  candidates  before  the  convention,  in  the  re- 
sult of  its  deliberations,  it  must  be  admitted  contributed  powerful- 
ly in  securing  the  success  which  followed,  which  elevated  to  the 
Chief  Magistracy  the  nominee  of  the  democratic  party,  by  a  tri- 
umphant majority  over  the  popular  and  venerable  whig  leader, 
Henry  Clay. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Magnitude  of  questions  before  Congress — Interest  felt  throughout  the  Union,  in 
the  election  of  Senators — The  sentiment  of  the  people,  in  regard  to  Gen.  Cass' 
election  to  the  Senate — His  election  by  the  Legislature  of  Michigan — His  first 
act  in  the  Senate,  evinces  his  keen  watchfulness  over  the  rights  and  honor  of 
his  country — Resolutions  of  Senator  Allen — Gen.  Cass  supports  them — His  re- 
marks thereon — The  Oregon  question — The  great  interests  involved  in  its  set- 
tlement— The  recommendations  of  the  President — Resolution  of  Mr.  Allen, 
giving  notice  that  convention  of  1827,  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
ritain,  he    annulled    and  abrogated — Speech  of  Gen.  Cass,  in   regard  to  our 
defences — His  remarks  thereon. 

The  magnitude  of  the  questions  arising  in  Congress,  impressed 
the  public  mind  with  the  necessity  of  having  in  thelSenate  of  the 
United  States,  the  first  and  most  eminent  men  of  the  country.  It 
was  apparent,  that  with  the  commencement  of  Mr.  Polkfs  presiden- 
tial term,  an  era  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation  would  arise,  requiring 
all  the  skill  and  experience  of  our  wisest  statesmen.  The  official 
terms  of  many  senators  would  expire  with  the  administration  of 
John  Tyler.  The  filling  the  vacancies  thus  occurring  was  a  sub- 
ject of  general  interest,  all  through  the  United  States.  It  was  not 
confined  to  state  limits.  Each  state  felt  interested  in  the  choice 
her  sisters  in  the  confederacy  might  make.  The  term  of  Hon. 
Augustus  S.  Porter,  of  Michigan  was  one  of  those  which  would 
terminate  in  March,  1845.  In  regard  to  who  would  be  his  succes- 
sor there  was  but  one  sentiment,  not  only  within  the  the  State  of 
Michigan,  but  elsewhere.  The  universal  choice  fell  upon  Gen.  Cass. 
The  legislature  of  Michigan,  at  its  annual  session  in  January  1845, 
in  compliance  with  public  opinion,  elected  Gen.  Cass,  senator  for 
six  years  ensuing  the  fourth  of  March,  then  next.  Every  demo- 
cratic member  of  the  legislature,  except  two  in  the  senate,  voted 
for  him  His  election  therefore  may  be  said  to  have  been  unani- 
mous. He  took  his  seat  in  the  senate  at  the  executive  session 
called  upon  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Polk. 

The  first  session  of  the  29th  Congress  commenced  on  the  first 
Monday  of  December  1845.  This  was  the  first  regular  meeting 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  227 

of  Congress  under  the  new  administration.  The  President  in  his 
annual  message  had  expressed  it  to  be  his  determination  to  carry 
out  the  policy  of  the  government,  as  declared  by  his  predecessors 
in  regard  to  the  interference  of  foreign  powers  in  American  affairs. 
He  said  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  could  not  view  with 
indifference  the  attempts  of  any  European  Power  to  interfere  with 
the  independent  action  of  the  nations  on  this  continent.  The  sub- 
ject was  recommended  to  the  attention  of  Congress,  by  the  Presi- 
dent, and  Senator  Allen  of  Ohio  asked  leave  to  introduce  into  the 
Senate  a  joint  resolution  declaratory  of  the  principles  by  which  the 
government  of  the  United  States  would  be  governed  in  regard  to 
the  interposition  of  the  powers  of  Europe  in  the  political  affairs  of 
America.  The  question  upon  granting  leave  came  up  for  discus- 
sion on  the  26th  of  January,  1846.  It  was  long  and  ably  debated 
by  the  most  distinguished  men  in  the  Senate.  Gen.  Cass  advoca- 
ted the  motion.  Messrs.  Berrien,  Calhoun,  Corwin,  Crittenden 
and  Webster  were  opposed  to  it.  Gen.  Cass  supported  the  pro- 
position upon  the  ground  that  it  w'as  the  most  correct  course  to 
pursue  in  reference  to  the  relations  of  the  United  States  with  Eng- 
land— that  this  country  "  could  lose  nothing  at  home  or  abroad, 
by  establishing  and  maintaining  an  American  policy — a  policy  de- 
cisive in  its  spirit — moderate  in  its  tone,  and  just  in  its  objects — 
proclaimed  and  supported  firmly,  but  temperately."  Advocating 
the  motion  he  said  : — 

"  But  what  is  proposed  by  this  resolution  ?  It  proposes,  Mr. 
President,  to  repel  a  principle  which  two  of  the  greatest  powers  of 
the  earth  are  now  carrying  into  practice  upon  this  continent,  so  far 
as  we  can  discover  any  principle  involved  in  the  war  which  the 
French  and  British  are  now  waging  against  Buenos  Ayres  ;  and  a 
principle  solemnly  announced  by  the  French  prime  minister  in  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  clearly  in  doctrine,  but  cautiously  in  the  re- 
medy. I  need  not  advert  to  the  declaration  made  upon  that  occa- 
sion by  M.  Guizot,  a  declaration  equally  extraordinary  and  me- 
morable. An  honorable  member  of  this  body  has  the  debate  in 
full ;  and  I  trust  that,  in  the  further  discussion  which  this  subject 
must  undergo,  and  will  undergo  in  this  body  in  one  form  or  anoth- 
er, he  will  read  the  remarks  of  the  French  premier,  and  give  us 
the  able  views  I  know  he  entertains  of  them.  I  will  only  add  that 
these  remarks  are  eminently  characteristic  of  a  peculiar  class  of 
statesmen,  who  are  always  seeking  some  new  and  brilliant  thought, 
something  with  which  to  dazzle  the  world  as  much  as  it  dazzles 
themselves — some  paradox  or  other  as  a  shroud  wherewith  to  wrap 


228  .  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

their  dying  frame.     Plain  common  sense,  and  the- true  condition 
of  rnen  and  communities,  are  lost  in  diplomatic  subtleties. 

But  what  is  this  balance  of  power  which  is  to  cross  the  Atlantic 
and  take  up  its  abode  in  this  New  World?  It  is  the  assumption 
of  a  power  which  has  deluged  Europe  in  blood,  and  which  has  at- 
tempted to  stifle  the  first  germs  of  freedom  in  every  land  where 
they  have  started  up  ;  which  has  blotted  Poland  from  the  map  of 
nations;  which  has  given  a  moiety  of  Saxony,  in  spite  of  the  pray- 
ers of  the  people,  to  Prussia ;  which  has  extinguished  Venice  and 
Genoa ;  which  added  Belgium  to  Holland,  notwithstanding  the  re- 
pugnance of  its  inhabitants,  who  eventually  rose  in  their  revolu- 
tionary might,  and  asserted  and  achieved  their  own  independence ; 
which  transferred  Norway  from  Denmark,  to  which  it  was  attach- 
ed by  old  ties  and  by  a  mild  government,  to  Sweden,  who  had  to 
send  an  army,  and  to  call  upon  the  navy  of  England  to  aid  her  to 
take  possession  of  this  gift  of  the  holy  alliance  ;  which  keeps  Switz- 
erland in  eternal  turmoil,  and  which  sent  a  French  army  into  Spain 
to.  put  down  the  spirit  of  liberty,  and  an  Austrian  army  to  Italy  for 
the  same  purpose ;  and  which  watches  and  wards  off  the  very  first 
instincts  of  human  nature  to  meliorate  its  social  and  political  con- 
dition. 

It  is  the  assumption  of  a  power  which  enables  five  great  nations 
of  Europe — they  are  quintuple  at  present — to  govern  just  as  much 
of  the  world  as  will  not  or  cannot  resist  their  cupidity  and  ambi- 
tion, and  to  introduce  new  principles  at  their  pleasure,  and  to  their 
profit,  into  the  code  of  nations.  To  proclaim  that  the  slave  trade 
is  piracy  by  virtue  of  their  proclamation,  and  that  their  cruisers 
may  sweep  the  ocean,  seizing  vessels,  and  crews,  and  cargoes,  and 
committing  therMo  that  great  vortex  which  has  swallowed  up  such 
a  vast  amount  orour  property,  and  issued  so  many  decrees  against 
our  rights — a  court  of  admiralty  ;  and,  by-and-by,  will  enable  them 
to  proclaim,  if  not  resisted,  that  the  cotton  trade  shall  be  piracy, 
or  that  the  tobacco  trade  shall  be  piracy,  or  that  anything  else  shall 
be  piracy  which  ministers  to  our  power  and  interest,  and  does  not 
minister  to  theirs. 

I  understand  the  measure  proposed  by  the  Senator  from  Ohio 
is  a  protest  against  the  establishment  of  a  new  and  dangerous  prin- 
ciple, affecting  ourselves,  and  with  us  the  other  independent  na- 
tions inhabiting  this  continent.  It  does  not  necessarily  involve 
any  question  of  war.  Such  a  protest  is  a  common  mode  of  proce- 
dure in  the  intercourse  of  nations.  It  is  the  exclusion  of  a  conclu- 
sion. It  is  saying  to  the  world,  that  the  Government  making  the 
protest  does  not  recognise  a  certain  claim  or  principle,  and  does 
not  intend  to  be  bound  by  it.  It  commits  such  Government  to  no 
specific  course  of  action.  It  merely  expresses  its  dissent,  leaving 
to  future  circumstances  its  conduct,  should  the  protest  be  found 
inefficient. 

I  have  already  alluded  to  Buenos  Ayres,  where  France  and  Eng- 
land are  now  interfering  to  their  heart's  content.  Their  conduct 


LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS. 


229 


upon  the  La  Plata  is  among  the  most  outrageous  acts  of  modern 
times.  If  I  understand  their  professions,  they  wage  war  against 
Buenos  Ayres,  because  Buenos  Ayres  is  at  war  wiih  Montevideo. 
They  are  fighting  for  peace ;  doing  evil  that  good  may  come.  But 
what  right  have  they  to  interfere  in  the  quarrel  between  two  inde- 
pendent nations,  except  as  the  friend  of  both,  and  in  the  interest 
of  both?  They  come  not,  however,  with  the,  olive-branch,  but 
with  fleets  and  armies.  They  carry  on  open  war ;  they  preach 
a  crusade  of  philanthropy  from  the  quarter-decks  of  ships  of  the 
line,  and  from  the  midst  of  regiments  of  soldiers.  Now  all  this  is 
a  flimsy  veil  to  conceal  far  other  designs  of  commercial  and  poli- 
tical ascendancy  upon  the  immense  and  productive  countries  of 
that  great  river.  They  seek  the  establishment  of  a  balance  of  pow- 
er, which  shall  establish  their  own  power,  and  enable  them  to  hold 
in  subjection  one  of  the  most  magnificent  regions  upon  the  face 
of  the  earth.  To  give  proper  weight  and  solemnity  to  any  mea- 
sure upon  this  great  question  under  consideration,  requires  the 
action  of  Congress.  The  declaration  of  the  President  will  be  as 
barren  as  was  that  of  Mr.  Monroe  unless  adopted  by  the  national 
legislature.  The  President  is  the  organ  of  communication  with 
other  governments.  But  the  establishment  of  a  great  line  of  policy 
calls  into  action  powers  not  committed  to  him,  and  which  can  only 
be  exercised  by  the  representatives  of  the  States  and  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  people  assembled  in  Congress. 

Mr,  President,  we  shall  lose  nothing  at  home  or  abroad,  now  or 
hereafter,  by  establishing  and  maintaining  an  American  policy — a 
policy  decisive  in  its  spirit,  moderate  in  its  tone,  and  just  in  its 
objects — proclaimed  and  supported  firmly,  but  temperately.  Pro- 
vidence has  placed  us  at  the  head  of  the  family  of  nations  upon  this 
continent.  We  have  passed  safely  througbuhe  great  revolutiona- 
ry trial  from  a  colonial  to  an  independent  cwidition.  We  entered 
upon  it  with  great  advantages.  The  principles  of  true  freedom 
were  brought  by  our  forefathers  to  the  New  World,  and  when  the 
struggle  for  independence  commenced,  it  found  us  not  only  ready 
for  the  issue,  but  r-ipe  for  the  blessings  of  self-government.  But 
the  colonies  of  Spanish  descent  had  not  served,  as  we  had  done, 
the  apprenticeship  of  liberty  ;  and  when  they  were  suddenly  called 
to  dissolve  their  original  political  connexion,  and  to  reconstruct 
their  civil  institutions,  they  encountered  difficulties  which  seemed 
at  times  to  threaten  the  overthrow  of  all  their  hopes.  Their  state 
of  transition  is  not  yet  fully  over  ;  but  they  will  struggle  on  till 
their  work  is  crowned  with  success.  In  the  meantime,  it  is  equal- 
ly our  policy  and  our  duty  to  preserve  the  continent  as  free  from 
European  influence  as  is  compatible  with  the  acknowledged  prin- 
ciples of  the  laws  of  nations.  The  community  of  States  inhabiting 
it  have  interests  of  their  own,  independent  of  the  peculiar  state  of 
things  which  is  established  in  Europe.  There  is  here  no  question 
touching  the  joint  rights  of  others — none  of  interfering  with  the 
colonial  possessions  of  the  European  Powers — none  of  denying 


230  LIFE   OF   GENERAL   CASS. 

their  right  to  establish  all  the  relations  of  peace  they  please  with 
this  continent,  nor  of  changing  these  to  relations  of  war  when  they 
think  just  cause  of  war  exists,  followed,  in  that  case,  by  all  the 
rights  which  a  state  of  hostilities  brings  with  it.  But  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  applying  to  America  an  artificial  system  built  up  in  Europe 
within  the  last  century  and  a  half,  which  the  most  careless  observer 
of  history  well  knows  has  neither  diminished  the  number  nor  the 
extent  of  wars,  nor  increased  the  stability  of  independent  States, 
nor  promoted  the  happiness  of  mankind.  A  system  of  power  built 
up  in  reality  for  the  maintenance  of  monarchical  institutions,  un- 
der the  guise  of  maintaining  a  necessary  political  equilibrium. 
Now,  sir,  I  hope  we  shall  be  satisfied  with  our  own  good  things, 
without  preaching  any  system  of  political  propagandist!!.  If  other 
people  prefer  monarchical  to  republican  institutions,  so  be  it.  We 
have  no  right  to  quarrel  with  their  decision,  however  much  we  may 
differ  from  their  views.  The  world  is  wide  enough  for  them  and 
us.  But  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  no  undue  means  be  taken, 
under  any  pretence  whatever,  to  assail  the  existing  institutions 
upon  this  hemisphere,  or  to  exert  any  influence  to  change  them, 
or  to  interfere  at  all  with  its  political  condition.  This  is  the  object 
of  the  Senator  from  Ohio;  and  it  is  an  object  worthy  of  the  atten- 
tion and  action  of  Congress,  and  of  the  approbation  of  the  country. 

Why  need  we  be  so  peculiarly  sensitive  upon  this  question  ? — 
for  I  see  it  has  excited  some  sensation  in  various  quarters.  No 
one  doubts  our  right  to  respond  to  the  declaration  of  the  Presi- 
dent. No  one  can  dispute  its  importance.  No  gentleman,  I  am 
sure,  upon  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  has  the  least  wish  to  conciliate 
England  by  a  self-restraining  policy.  Mild  words,  we  are  told  by 
the  wise  man,  turn  away  wrath.  It  may  be  so ;  bat  they  never  yet 
turned  away  cupidity  or  ambition.  I  do  not  see  that  the  English 
statesmen  are  very  reg^dful  of  the  feelings  of  this  country,  either 
in  the  measures  they  adopt  or  in  the  language  they  employ.  Lord 
John  Russell,  who  has  recently  been  called  to  the  head  of  the  Brit- 
ish Administration,  but  which  position  he  could  not  hold,  in  his 
comments  upon  the  President's  declaration  respecting  Oregon,  in 
April  last,  called  it  blustering;  and  I  did  not 'observe  that  this 
coarse  epithet  drew  upon  the  speaker  the  least  censure  from  Par- 
liament, or  the  people,  or  the  press.  I  have  seen  no  such  epithet 
applied  here  to  the  language  of  the  British  Queen,  nor  even  of  the 
British  Cabinet,  though  my  experience  tells  me  that,  had  such  been 
the  case,  there  is  many  a  journal  in  this  country  which  would  have 
visited  it  with  strong  rebuke.  But  Lord  John  Russell  lays  him- 
self liable  to  a  severe  retort  when  he  says,  in  that  very  speech  : 
"  For  my  own  part,  I  will  say,  in  all  moderation,  that  I  am  not 
prepared  to  say  that  this  country  ought  to  put  forward  any  arrogant 
pretensions." 

Precious  moderation  this !  What  can  be  more  arrogant  than  to 
claim  moderation  because  a  country  is  not  prepared  to  put  forward- 
arrogant  pretensions  ?  If  this  be  the  moderation  of  England,  what 
would  be  her  arrogance  ? 


LIFE   OF   GENERAL   CASS. 

Look  at  the  state  of  things  in  Brazil !  The  treaty  between  that 
country  and  England  on  the  subject  of  the  right  of  search  has  ex- 
pired. But  has  the  right  expired  also  ?  It  has,  but  not  the  prac- 
tice. England  yet  stops,  with  the  strong  hand,  Brazilian  ships, 
wherever  she  finds  them  in  tropical  latitudes,  and  seizes  and  sends 
them  to  her  own  courts  of  admiralty  for  condemnation.  And  this 
in  utter  contempt  of  all  the  laws  regulating  the  rights  of  indepen- 
dent nations. 

I  allude  to  all  these  facts,  because  they  ought  to  warn  us  of  our 
duty.  I  allude  to  them,  in  despite  of  the  charge,  which  has  been, 
and  will  again  be  made — out  of  the.  Senate,  not  in  it — of  a  desire 
to  excite  undue  prejudice  against  England.  I  have  no  such  desire. 
But  I  have  a  desire  that  my  own  country  should  be  aware  of  her 
true  position,  and  should  be  prepared  to  meet  her  responsibility, 
whatever  difficulties  may  beset  her  path — prepared,  sir,  in  head, 
in  hand,  and  in  heart.  Yes,  sir,  notwithstanding  the  severe  com- 
mentaries which  a  casual  expression  of  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Ohio  has  encountered  from  a  portion  of  the  public  press,  I  will 
repeat  the  expression — prepared  in  the  heart.  For  if  war  should 
come,  which  may  Providence  avert,  I  trust  the  hearts  of  our  coun- 
trymen will  be  prepared  for  the  struggle  it  will  bring.  There  is 
no  better  preparation,  nor  any  surer  cause  or  augury  of  success. 

When  I  read  the  President's  Message,  sir,  I  found  four  princi- 
pal statements  or  suggestions  which  seemed  to  me  to  render  our 
relations  with  England  exceedingly  critical ;  so  critical,  indeed, 
as  to  demand  the  immediate  attention  and  action  of  Congress,  and 
the  solemn  consideration  of  the  country.  The  President  stated, 
in  effect,  that  the  negotiations  with  England  on  the  subject  of  Ore- 
gon were  closed ;  that  we  had  a  clear  title  to  the  whole  of  it ;  that 
the  year's  notice  for  the  termination  of  thje  convention  ought  be 
given ;  and  that  we  should  then  take  exclusive  possession  of  the 
whole  country.  I  do  not  quote  the  words,  but  these  are  substan- 
tially the  views  of  the  President,  Now,  sir,  it  was  clear  to  me 
that  here  was  a  state  of  things  which  might  well  excite  the  solici- 
tude of  any  man  in  the  unprepared  condition  of  the  country,  and 
yet  what  vials  of  wrath  have  been  poured  out  upon  the  heads  of  all 
the  Senators  whose  measures  really  tended  to  avert  war  by  prepar- 
ing for  it.  The  mails  are  loaded  with  abusive  anonymous  letters, 
because  they  believe  the  country  is  in  danger,  and  believing  so, 
say  so,  and  thus  saying  and  believing,  strive  to  prepare  for  the 
worst,  still  hoping,  though  sometimes  against  hope,  for  the  best. 

I  expressed  my  approbation  of  the  President's  Message ;  but  on 
the  subject  of  the  state  of  the  country,  I  did  not  say  one  word  more 
than  I  intended  and  intend  now.  I  am  no  lover  of  war.  I  am  no 
seeker  of  it.  But  I  have  to  learn  that  it  is  hastened  by  adequate 
preparation.  I  have  passed  through  one  war,  and  hope  never  to 
see  another.  Still  I  shall  never  cry  peace,  peace,  unless  I  believe 
there  is  truly  peace.  The  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky, 
whom  I  first  met  many  years  ago,  marching  to  the  battle-field,  and 


232  LIFE   OF   GENERAL   CASS. 

who  will  always  be  found  on  the  side  of  his  country,  supposed, 
when  the  question  of  the  national  defence  was  under  discussion,  I 
had  said  war  was  inevitable.  He  misunderstood  me.  I  consider- 
ed the  danger  of  war  imminent,  not  inevitable.  Had  I  thought  it 
inevitable,  I  should  not  have  submitted  propositions  for  inquiry, 
but  decisive  measures  for  adoption.  I  hold  on  firmly,  sir,  to  every 
word  I  said  before,  neither  softening  nor  explaining;  but  denying, 
because  I  app*rehended  we  might  have  war,  therefore  I  desired  it. 
And  I  still  consider  danger  imminent,  not  diminished,  so  far  as  I 
know,  by  the  recent  arrival.  The  subject  in  controversy  remains 
precisely  as  it  was.  The  question  was,  and  is,  whether  we  shall 
surrender  to  the  British  demands,  or  whether  the  British  Govern- 
ment shall  surrender  to  ours.  If  no  such  cession  is  made  by  either 
party,  the  two  countries  will  be  brought  into  conflict.  1  see  no 
indication  that  one  or  the  other  will  sufficiently  yield. 

It  is  not  men,  but  fears  and  facts,  that  make  panics  in  this  coun- 
try, if  I  must  adopt  that  word.  But  I  repudiate  it  as  applicable 
to  the  great  body  of  the  American  people.  They*  feel  no  panic 
They  feel  anxiety,  no  doubt,  but  determination  also — a  hope  that 
England  will  do  us  justice,  and,  if  not,  a  determination  to  do  jus- 
tice to  themselves. 

I  must  ask  the  indulgence  of  the  Senate  for  alluding  to  this  top- 
ic at  this  time.  I  do  so  with  the  deep  conviction  that  all  other 
legislative  measures  should  give  way  to  measures  of  defence,  and 
in  the  hope  that  such  will  be  the  action  of  Congress.  Then,  if 
war  comes,  we  shall  have  no  self-reproach  to  meet,  and  if  peace  is 
preserved,  what  we  do  will  be  well  done  for  a  similar  future  con- 
tingency, which  no  nation  can  expect  long  to  avoid." 

The  motion  was  adopted  and  leave  granted  to  the  senator  from 
Ohio  to  introduce  the  proposed  resolution.  The  resolution  in 
substance  provided  that,  Congress,  concurring  with  the  President, 
and  sensible  that  a  time  had  arrived  when  the  government  of  the 
United  States  could  no  longer  remain  silent  without  being  ready  to 
submit  to,  and  even  to  invite,  the  enforcement  of  the  dangerous  Eu- 
ropean doctrine  of  the  "balance  of  power,"  solemnly  declare 
to  the  civilized  world  the  unalterable  resolution  of  the  United 
States  to  adhere  to  and  enforce  the  principle,  that  any  effort  of  the 
Powers  of  Europe  to  intermeddle  in  the  social  organization  or 
political  arrangements  of  the  independent  nations  of  America,  or 
further  to  extend  the  European  system  of  government  upon  this 
continent  by  the  establishment  of  new  colonies,  would  be  incom- 
patible with  the  independent  existence  of  the  nations,  and  danger- 
ous to  the  liberties  of  the  people  of  America,  and  therefore  would 
incur,  as  by  the  right  of  self-preservation  it  would  justify,  the 
prompt  resistance  of  the  United  States. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

At  this  session  of  Congress  the  Oregon  question  came  up  for 
discussion.  By  convention  between  the  governments  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  and  Great  Britain,  made  the  twentieth  day  of  October, 
1818,  for  the  period  of  ten  years,  and  afterwards  indefinitely  ex- 
tended and  continued  in  force  by  another  convention  of  the  same 
parties,  concluded  the  sixth  day  of  August,  1827,  it  was  agreed, 
that  any  country  that  was  claimed  by  either  party  on  the  north- 
west coast  of  America,  west  of  the  Stony  or  Rocky  mountains, 
commonly  called  the  Oregon  Territory,  should,  together  with  its 
harbors,  bays,  and  creeks,  and  the  navigation  of  all  rivers  within 
the  same,  be  "free  and  open"  to  the  vessels,  citizens,  and  subjects 
of  the  two  Powers,  but  without  prejudice  to  any  claim  which  eith- 
er of  the  parties  might  have  to  any  part  of  said  country;  and  with 
this  further  provision  in  the  third  article  of  the  said  convention  of 
the  sixth  of  August,  1897,  that  either  party  might  abrogate  and 
annul  the  said  convention,  on  giving  due  notice  of  twelve  months 
to  the  other  contracting  party. 

This  agreement  was  entered  into  because  the  governments  of 
the  two  countries  were  unable  to  settle  definitely,  by  negotiation, 
their  respective  claims  to  territory  in  Oregon.  In  the  attempts 
that  had  been  made  to  adjust  the  controversy,  the  United  States 
had  offered  to  Great  Britain  the  parallel  of  the  forty-ninth  degree 
of  north  latitude,  with  the  concession  of  the  free  navigation  of  the 
Columbia  river,  south  of  that  degree.  Great  Britain,  on  her  part, 
offered  to  the  United  States,  the  same  parallel  of  latitude  from  the 
Rocky  mountains  to  its  intersection  with  the  north-easternmost 
branch  of  the  Columbia  river,  and  thence  down  that  river  to  the 
sea,  together  with  a  small  detached  territory  north  of  the  Columbia. 
Both  parties  respectively  rejected  the  propositions. 

In  1843  the  United  States  minister  in  London  was  authorized  to 
renew  the  offer  previously  made  to  Great  Britain,  and  while  the  sub- 
ject was  under  consideration  the  negotiation  was  transferred  to  the 
city  of  Washington.  The  English  minister,  in  August  1844,  open- 
ed the  negotiation  at  Washington,  by  renewing  the  offer  before 
made  to  the  United  States,  with  the  addition  of  Free  Ports 
south  of  forty-nine  degrees.  This  proposition,  which  would  give 
Great  Britain  two-thirds  of  the  entire  territory,  including  the  free 
navigation  of  the  Columbia,  and  the  harbors  on  the  Pacific  ocean, 
was  promptly  rejected  by  the  United  States. 


234  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  CASS. 

No  other  attempt  at  compromise  was  made  on  the  part  of  either 
until  the  effort  made  by  President  Polk  to  settle  the  controversy 
amicably  and  satisfactorily.  A  proposition  was  made,  which  was 
rejected  by  the  British  minister,  and  no  further  attempt  being  made 
by  that  functionary,  the  President  directed  the  withdrawal  of  his 
offer,  and  asserted  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  the  whole  of 
Oregon.  This  proceeding,  having  a  tendency  to  bring  the  dispute 
to  a  close,  the  President  urged  upon  Congress  the  necessity  of 
terminating,  by  proper  notice,  the  effect  of  the  agreement  entered 
into  in  1818,  in  regard  to  joint  occupation. 

On  the  18th  or  December,  Mr.  Allen,  of  Ohio,  offered  a  joint 
resolution  in  the  Senate,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  into  effect  the 
recommendation  of  the  President.  It  was  referred  to  the  com- 
mittee on  Foreign  Relations,  of  which  Mr.  Allen  was  chairman, 
and  was  reported  back  to  the  senate  in  the  following  form  by  the 
committee : 

Joint  Resolution  to  annul  and  abrogate  the  convention  of  the  sixth 
day  of  Augast,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  between  the 
United  States  of  America  and  Great  Britain,  relative  to  the 
country  westward  of  the  Stony  or  Rocky  mountains. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That,  in  virtue 
of  the  second  article  of  the  convention  of  the  sixth  of  August, 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  between  the  United  States  of 
America  and  Great  Britain,  relative  to  the  country  westward  of 
the  Stony  or  Rocky  mountains,  the  United  States  of  America  do 
now  think  fit  to  annul  and  abrogate  that  convention,  and  the  said 
convention  is  hereby  accordingly  entirely  annulled  and  abrogated  : 
Provided,  that  this  resolution  shall  take  effect  after  the  expiration  of 
the  term  of  twelve  months  from  the  day  on  which  due  notice  shall 
have  been  given  to  Great  Britain  of  the  passage  of  this  resolution. 
And  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  hereby  authorized  and  re- 
quired to  give  such  notice;  and  also  at  the  expiration  of  said  con- 
vention, to  issue  his  proclamation  setting  forth  that  fact. 

A  number  of  amendments  were  proposed  to  this  resolution,  and 
the  10th  of  February,  1846,  was  designated  as  the  time  for  com- 
mencing the  debate  thereon.  Mr.  Allen  opened  the  debate  on 
that  day,  and  was  followed  by  other  members  of  the  senate,  of 
whom  nearly  all  participated  in  the  discussion.  On  the  thirtieth 
day  of  March,  Gen.  Cass  addressed  the  senate  in  favor  of  the  reso- 
lution, without  entering  into  a  formal  discussion  of  the  title  of  the 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

United  States  to  the  whole  of  Oregon.  Confining  himself  princi- 
pally to  the  necessity  and  policy  of  the  course  suggested  by  the 
President,  he  said  : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  I  do  not  rise  at  this  late  period  to  enter  into 
any  formal  consideration  of  the  principal  topic  involved  in  the 
proposition  now  pending  before  the  Senate.  I  cannot  flatter  my- 
self, that  any  such  effort  of  mine  would  be  successful,  or  would 
deserve  to  be  so.  I  have  listened  attentively  to  the  progress  of  this 
discussion,  and  while  I  acknowledge  my  gratification  at  much  I 
have  heard,  still  sentiments  have  been  advanced,  and  views  pre- 
sented, in  which  I  do  not  concur,  and  from  which,  even  at  the 
hazard  of  trespassing  upon  the  indulgence  of  the  Senate,  I  must 
express  my  dissent,  and  briefly  the  reasons  of  itt  But,  sir,  I  have 
not  the  remotest  intention  of  touching  the  question  of  the  title  of 
Oregon.  The  tribute  I  bring  to  that  subject  is  the  tribute  of  con- 
viction, not  of  discussion ;  a  concurrence  in  the  views  of  others, 
not  the  presentation  of  my  own.  The  whole  matter  has  been 
placed  in  bold  relief  before  the  country  and  the  world  by  men  far 
more  competent  than  I  am  to  do  it  justice,  and  justice  they  have 
done  it.  The  distinguished  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  who 
filled,  a  short  time  since,  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  has  left 
the  impress  of  his  talents  and  intelligence  upon  his  correspond- 
ence with  the  British  Minister,  and  he  left  to  an  able  successor  to 
finish  well  a  task,  which  was  well  begun.  And  upon  this  floor,  the 
Senator  from  New-York  instructed  us,  while  he  gratified  us,  by  a ' 
masterly  vindication  of  the  American  title ;  and  he  was  followed 
by  his  colleague,  and  by  the  Senator  from  Illinois,  and  by  others, 
too,  who  have  done  honor  to  themselves,  while  doing  good  service 
to  their  country. 

Before,  however,  T  proceed  further  in  my  remarks,  there  is  one 
subject,  to  which  I  will  make  a  passing  allusion.  As  to  correcting 
the  misrepresentations  of  the  day,  whether  these  are  voluntary  or 
involuntary,  he  that  seeks  to  do  it,  only  prepares  for  himself  an 
abundant  harvest  of  disappointment,  and,  1  may  add,  of  vexation. 
I  seek  no  such  impracticable  object.  In  times  like  the  present, 
when  interests  are  threatened,  passions  excited;  parties  animated, 
and  when  momentous  questions  present  themselves  for  solution, 
and  the  public  mind  is  alive  to  the  slightest  sensation,  we  must 
expect,  that  those,  upon  whose  action  depends  the  welfare,  if  not 
the  destiny,  of  the  country,  will  be  arraigned,  and  assailed,  and 
condemned.  I  presume  we  are  all  prepared  for  this.  We  have  all 
lived  long  enough  to  know,  that  this  is  the  tax,  which  our  position 
pays  to  its  elevation.  We  have  frequently  been  reminded,  during 
the  progress  of  this  debate,  of  the  responsibility,  which  men  of 
extreme  opinions,  as  some  of  us  have  been  called,  must  encounter, 
and  have  been  summoned  to  meet  it — to  meet  the  consequences  of 
the  measures  we  invoke. 

During  the  course  of  a  public  life,  now  verging  towards  forty 


236  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

years,  I  have  been  placed  in  many  a  condition  of  responsibility  ; 
and  often,  too,  where  I  had  few  to  aid  me,  and  none  to  consult. 
I  have  found  myself  able  to  march  up  to  my  duty,  and  no  respon- 
sibility, in  cities  or  in  forests,  has  been  cast  upon  me,  which  1  have 
not  readily  met. 

As  it  is  with  me,  so  it  is,  I  doubt  not,  with  my  political  friends, 
who  regard  this  whole  matter  as  I  do,  and  who  are  ready  to  follow 
it  to  its  final  issue,  whatever  or  wherever  that  may  be.  I  submit 
to  honorable  Senators  on  the  other  side  of  the  chamber,  whether 
these  adjurations  are  in  good  taste  ;  whether  it  is  not  fair  to  pre- 
sume, that  we  have  looked  around  us,  examined  what  in  our  judg- 
ment we  ought  to  do,  and  then  determined  to  do  it,  come  what 
may  ?  This  great  controversy  with  England  cannot  be  adjusted 
without  a  deep  and  solemn  responsibility  being  cast  upon  all  of  us. 
If  there  is  a  responsibility  in  going  forward,  there  is  a  responsi- 
bility in  standing  still.  Peace  has  its  dangers  as  well  as  war. 
They  are  not  indeed  of  the  same  kind,  but  they  may  be  more  last- 
ing, more  dishonorable,  and  more  destructive  of  the  best  interests 
of  the  country  ;  because  destructive  of  those  hopes  and  sentiments 
which  elevate  the  moral  above  the  material  world.  Let  us  then 
leave  to  each  member  of  this  body  the  course  that  duty  points  out 
to  him,  together  with  the  responsibility  he  must  meet,  whether  ar- 
raigned at  the  tribunal  of  his  conscience,  his  constituents,  or  his 
country. 

I  observe,  that  as  well  myself,  as  other  Senators,  upon  this  side 
of  the  Senate  have  been  accused  of  dealing  in  rant  and  abuse — 
that  I  believe  is  the  term — in  the  remarks  we  have  submitted,  from 
time  to  time,  upon  the  subject,  as  it  came  up  incidentally  or  di- 
rectly for  consideration.  This  rant  and  abuse,  of  course,  had  re- 
ference to  remarks  upon  the  conduct  and  pretensions  of  England. 

I  should  not  have  adverted  to  this  topic,  had  it  not  been  that  the 
honorable  Senator  from  North  Carolina,  [Mr.  HAYWOOD,]  not  now 
in  his  place,  has  given  color  to  the  charge,  by  the  expression  of 
his  "mortification  in  being  obliged  to  concede  to  the  debates  in  the 
British  Parliament  a  decided  superiority  over  ourselves  in  their 
dignity  and  moderation." 

He  expressed  the  hope  that  "we  might  get  the  news  by  the  next 
packet  of  an  outrageous  debate  in  the  British  Parliament."  "At 
least  sufficient  to  put  them  even  with  us  on  that  score." 

Now,  Mr.  President,  it  is  not  necessary  to  wait  for  the  next 
packet  for  specimens  of  the  courtesies  of  British  Parliamentary 
eloquence. 

I  hold  one  in  my  hands,  which  has  been  here  some  time,  and 
which,  from  the  circumstances,  and  from  the  station  of  the  speak- 
er, I  at  least  may  be  permitted  to  refer  to,  when  I  find  myself, 
among  others,  charged  with  participating  in  an  outrageous  debate, 
and  when  patriotism  would  seem  to  demand  an  unbecoming  exhi- 
bition in  the  British  Parliament,  in  order  to  restore,  not  our  digni- 
ty, but  our  self-complacency. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

Now,  sir,  I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  courtesies  of  life,  public 
and  private  ;  and  I  desire  never  to  depart  from  them.  In  all  I  have 
said,  I  have  not  uttered  a  word,  which  ought  to  give  offence,  even 
to  political  fastidiousness.  I  have  spoken,  to  be  sure,  plainly,  as 
became  a  man  dealing  in  great  truths,  involving  the  character  and 
interests  of  his  country,  but  becomingly.  I  have  not,  indeed,  called 
ambition  moderation  ;  nor  cupidity,  philanthropy  ;  nor  arrogance, 
humility.  Let  him  do  so,  who  believes  them  such.  But  I  have 
heard  the  desire  of  the  West,  that  the  sacred  rights  of  their  coun- 
try should  be  enforced  and  defended,  called  western  avidity,  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  !  I  have  not  even  imitated  Lord 
John  Russell,  and  talked  of  blustering.  Still  less  have  I  imitated 
a  greater  than  Lord  John  Russell  in  talents,  and  one  higher  in 
station,  though  far  lower  in  those  qualities,  that  conciliate  respect 
and  esteem,  and  preserve  them. 

He  who  seeks  to  know  the  appetite  of  the  British  public  for 
abuse,  and  how  greedily  it  is  catered  for,  has  but  to  consult  the 
daily  columns  of  the  British  journals ;  but  let  him,  who  has  per- 
suajkd  himself  that  all  is  decorum  in  the  British  Parliament,  and 
tharthese  legislative  halls  are  but  bear-gardens  compared  with  it, 
turn  to  the  speeches  sometimes  delivered  there.  Let  him  turn  to 
a  speech  delivered  by  the  second  man  in  the  realm,  by  the  late 
Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  the  Thersites  indeed  of  his  day  and 
country,  but  with  high  intellectual  Bowers,  and  a  vast  stock  of  in- 
formation, and  who  no  doubt  understands  the  taste  of  his  country- 
men, and  knows  how  to  gratify  it. 

I  have  no  pleasure  in  these  exhibitions,  which  lessen  the  dignity 
of  human  nature  ;  but  we  must  look  to  the  dark  as  well  as  to  the 
bright  side  of  life,  if  we  desire  to  bring  our  opinions  to  the  stand- 
ard of  experience.  In  a  debate  in  the  British  House  of  Lords,  on 
the  7th  of  April,  1843,  I  had  the  honor  to  be  the  subject  of  the 
vituperation  of  Lord  Brougham ;  and  an  honor  I  shall  esteem  it, 
under  the  circumstances,  as  long  as  the  honors  of  this  world  have 
any  interest  for  me.  I  shall  make  no  other  allusion  to  the  matter 
but  what  is  necessary  to  the  object  I  have  in  view,  to  exhibit  the 
style  of  debate  there,  so  much  lauded  here,  and  held  up  to  our 
countrymen  as  the  beau  ideal  of  all  that  is  courteous  and  dignified 
in  political  life.  "There  was  one  man,"  said  the  ex-chancellor, 
"who  was  the  very  impersonation  of  mob  hostility  to  England. 
He  wished  to  name  him,  that  the  name  might  be  clear  as  the  guilt 
was  undivided.  He  meant  General  Cass,  whose  breach  of  duty  to 
his  own  Government  was  so  discreditable,  and  even  more  flagrant 
than  his  breach  of  duty  to  humanity  as  a  man,  and  as  the  free  de- 
scendent  of  free  English  parents,  and  whose  conduct  in  all  those 
particulars  it  was  impossible  to  pass  over  or  palliate.  This  person, 
who  had  been  sent  to  maintain  peace,  and  to  reside  at  Paris  for 
that  purpose,  after  pacific  relations  had  been  established  between 
France  and  America,  did  his  best  to  break  it,  whether  by  the  cir- 
culation of  statements  upon  the  question  of  international  law,  of 


238  LIFE    OP   GENERAL    CASS. 

which  he  had  no  more  conception  than  of  the  languages  that  were 
spoken  in  the  moon,  [loud  laughter,"]  (this  sarcasm  provoked  their 
grave  lordships  to  merriment,)  "or  by  any  other  arguments  of  rea- 
son, for  which  he  had  no  more  capacity,  than  he  had  for  under- 
standing legal  points  and  differences."  "For  that  purpose  he  was 
not  above  pandering  to  the  worst  mob  feeling  of  the  United 
States" — "a  lawless  set  of  rabble  politicians  of  inferior  caste  and 
station" — "a  grovelling,  groundling  set  of  politicians" — "a  set 
of  mere  rabble,  as  contradistinguished  from  persons  of  property, 
or  respectability,  and  of  information" — "groundlings  in  sta- 
tion,'' Sfc. 

And  I  am  thus  characterized  by  this  modest  and  moderate  En- 
glish Lord,  because  1  did  what  little  was  in  my  power  to  defeat  one 
of  the  most  flagitious  attempts  of  modern  times  to  establish  a  do- 
minion over  the  seas,  and  which,  under  the  pretext  of  abolishing 
the  slave  trade,  and  by  virtue  of  a  quintuple  treaty,  would  have 
placed  the  flag,  and  ships,  and  seamen  of  our  country,  at  the  dis- 
posal of  England. 

Lord  Brougham  did  not  always  talk  thus — not  when  one  4f  his 
friends  applied  to  me  in  Paris  to  remove  certain  unfavorable  im- 
pressions made  in  a  high  quarter  by  one  of  those  imprudent  and 
impulsive  remarks,  which  seem  to  belong  to  his  moral  habits.  The 
effort  was  successful.  And  now  my  account  of  good  for  evil  with 
Lord  Brougham  is  balanced. 

It  is  an  irksome  task  to  cull  expressions  like  these,  and  repeat 
them  here.  I  hold  them  up  not  as  a  warning — that  is  not  needed 
— but  to  repel  the  intimation,  that  we  ought  to  study  the  courtesies 
of  our  position  in  the  British  Parliament. 

When  I  came  here,  sir,  I  felt  it  due  to  myself  to  arraign  no  one's 
motives,  but  to  yield  the  same  credit  for  integrity  of  action  to  oth- 
ers, which  I  claimed  for  myself.  The  respect  I  owed  to  those  who 
sent  me  here,  and  to  those  to  whom  I  was  sent,  equally  dictated 
this  course.  If  some  of  us,  as  has  been  intimated,  are  small  men, 
who  have  attained  high  places,  if  we  have  no  other  claim  to  this 
false  distinction,  I  hope  we  shall  at  least  establish  that  claim,  which 
belongs  to  decorum  of  language  and  conduct,  to  life  and  conver- 
sation. We  all  occupy  positions  here  high  enough,  and  useful 
enough,  if  usefully  filled,  to  satisfy  the  measure  of  any  man's  am- 
bition. It  ought  to  be  our  pride  and  our  effort  to  identify  ourselves 
with  this  representative  body  of  the  sovereignties  of  the  States. 
With  this  great  depository  of  so  much  of  the  power  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  in  the  three  great  departments  of  their  government, 
executive,  legislative,  and  judicial — to  establish  an  esprit  du  corps, 
which,  while  it  shall  leave  us  free  to  fulfil  our  duties,  whether  to 
our  country  or  to  our  party,  shall  yet  unite  us  in  a  determination 
to  discard  everything,  which  can  diminish  the  influence,  or  lessen 
the  dignity,  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  While  I  have 
the  honor  of  a  seat  here,  I  will  do  nothing  to  counteract  these 
views.  I  will  bandy  words  of  reproach  with  no  one.  And  the 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  239 

same  measure  of  courtesy  I  am  prepared  to  mete  to  others,  I  trust 
will  be  meted  by  others  to  me.  At  any  rate,  if  they  are  not,  I  will 
have  no  contention  in  this  chamber. 

I  have  regretted  many  expressions  which  have  been  heard  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  this  discussion.  Faction,  demagogues,  ultra 
patriots,  ambitious  leaders,  inflammatory  appeals,  invective,  little 
men  seeking  to  be  great  ones,  and  other  terms  and  epithets,  not 
pleasant  to  hear,  and  still  less  pleasant  to  repeat.  Now,  sir,  noth- 
ing is  easier  than  a  bitter  retort ;  and  he  who  impugns  the  motives 
of  others,  cannot  complain,  if  he  is  accused  of  measuring  them 
by  his  own  standard,  and  seeking,  in  his  own  breast,  their  rule  of 
action.  If  one  portion  of  the  Senate  is  accused  of  being  ultra  on 
the  side  of  their  country's  pretensions,  how  .easy  to  retort  the 
charge  by  accusing  the  accusers  of  being  ultra  on  the  other  ?  But 
what  is  gained  by  this  war  of  words  1  Nothing.  On  the  contrary, 
we  lower  our  dignity  as  Senators,  and  our  character  as  men.  For 
myself,  I  repudiate  it  all.  1  will  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  it.  I  ques- 
tion the  motives  of  no  honorable  Senator.  I  believe  we  have  all 
one  common  object — the  honor  and  interest  of  our  country.  We 
differ  as  to  the  best  means  of  action,  and  that  difference  is  one  of 
the  tributes  due  to  human  fallibility.  But  there  is  no  exclusive 
patriotism,  on  one  side  or  other  of  this  body  ;  and  I  hope  there  will 
be  no  exclusive  claim  to  it. 

Some  days  since,  in  an  incidental  discussion,  which  sprung  up, 
I  remarked  that  I  could  not  perceive  why  the  parallel  of  49  de- 
grees was  assumed  as  the  boundary  of  our  claim.  Why  any  man 
planted  his  foot  on  that  suppositious  line  upon  the  face  of  the  globe, 
and  erecting  a  barrier  there,  said,  all  to  the  north  belong  to  Eng- 
land, and  all  to  the  south  to  the  United  States.  My  remark  was 
merely  the  expression  of  my  views,  without  touching  the  reasons 
on  which  they  were  founded.  The  honorable  Senators  from 
Maine,  and  Maryland,  and  Georgia,  have  since  called  in  question 
the  accuracy  of  this  opinion,  and  have  entered  somewhat  at  length 
into  the  considerations,  which  prove  that  line  the  true  line  of  de- 
marcation between  the  two  countries.  And  the  Senator  from 
North  Carolina  [Mr.  HAYWOOD]  lays  much  stress  upon  this  mat- 
ter, making  it  in  fact  the  foundation  of  a  large  portion  of  his  ar- 
gument. That  parallel  is,  in  his  view,  the  wall  of  separation  be- 
tween our  questionable  and  our  unquestionable  claims.  To  the 
south  he  would  not  yield  ;  to  the  north  he  would,  though  he  thinks 
that  even  there  our  title  is  the  best.  There  is  an  erroneous  im- 
pression upon  this  subject  somewhere,  either  with  the  ultra,  or  (if 
I  may  coin  a  word)  the  un-ultra  advocates  of  Oregon  ;  and  as  this 
line  seems  to  be  a  boundary,  beyond  which  we  may  look,  indeed, 
and  wish,  but  must  not  go,  it  is  worth  while  to  examine  summarily 
what  are  its  real  pretensions  to  the  character  thus  assumed  for  it, 
of  being  the  line  of  contact  and  of  separation  between  two  great 
nations. 

There  is  no  need  of  discussing  the  right  of  civilized  nations  to 


240  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

appropriate  to  themselves  countries,  newly  discovered  and  inhabi- 
ted by  barbarous  tribes.  The  principle  and  the  practice  have  been 
sanctioned  by  centuries  of  experience.  What  constitutes  this  right 
of  appropriation,  so  as  to  exclude  other  nations  from  its  exercise 
in  a  given  case,  is  a  question,  which  has  been  differently  settled  in 
different  ages  of  the  world.  At  one  time  it  was  the  Pope's  bull 
which  conferred  the  title ;  at  another  it  was  discovery  only  ;  then 
settlement  under  some  circumstances,  and  under  others  discovery; 
and  then  settlement  and  discovery  combined.  There  has  been 
neither  a  uniform  rule,  nor  a  uniform  practice.  But  under  any 
circumstances,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  why  a  certain  parallel  of  lati- 
tude is  declared  to  be  the  boundary  of  our  claim.  If  the  valley 
of  a  river  were  assumed,  a  principle  might  be  also  assumed,  which 
would  shut  us  up  in  it.  This  would  be  a  natural  and  a  tangible 
boundary.  How,  indeed,  England  could  look  to  her  own  practice 
and  acquisitions,  and  say  to  us,  you  are  stopped  by  this  hill,  or  by 
that  valley,  or  by  that  river,  I  know  not.  England,  whose  colonial 
charters  extended  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  South  sea,  as  the  Pacific 
ocean  was  then  called,  and  who  actually  ejected  the  French  from 
the  country  between  the  mountains  and  the  Mississippi,  where  they 
had  first  established  themselves,  upon  the  very  ground  that  their 
own  rights  of  discovery,  as  shown  by  these  charters,  ran  indefi- 
nitely west ;  and  who  now  holds  the  continent  of  Australia — a  re- 
gion larger  than  Europe — by  virtue  of  the  right  of  discovery ;  or, 
in  other  words,  because  Captain  Cook  sailed  along  a  portion  of  its 
coast,  and  occasionally  hoisted  a  pole,  or  buried  a  bottle.  I  am 
well  aware  there  must  be  limits  to  this  conventional  title,  by  which 
new  countries  are  claimed  :  nor  will  it  be  always  easy  to  assign 
them  in  fact,  as  they  cannot  be  assigned  in  principle.  We  claim 
the  Oregon  territory.  The  grounds  of  this  claim  are  before  the 
world.  The  country  it  covers  extends  from  California  to  the  Rus- 
sian possessions,  and  from  the  Rocky  mountains  to  the  Pacific 
ocean, — a  homogeneous  country,  unclaimed  by  England,  when  our 
title  commenced,  similar  in  its  character,  its  productions,  its  cli- 
mate its  interests,  and  its  wants,  in  all  that  constitutes  natural 
identity,  and  by  these  elements  of  union,  calculated  forever  to  be 
united  together, — no  more  to  be  divided  by  the  parallel  of  49  de- 
grees, nor  by  any  of  the  geographical  circles  marked  upon  artifi- 
cial globes.  No  more  to  be  so  divided,  than  any  of  the  posses- 
sions of  England,  scattered  over  the  world.  In  thus  claiming  the 
whole  of  this  unappropriated  country,  unappropriated  when  our 
title  attached  to  it,  the  valley  of  the  Columbia,  the  valley  of  Fra- 
zers  river,  and  all  the  other  hills  and  vallies  which  diversify  its 
surface,  we  but  follow  the  example  set  us  by  the  nations  of  the 
other  hemisphere,  and  hold  on  to  the  possession  of  a  country,  which 
is  one,  and  ought  to  be  indivisible. 

It  is  contended  that  this  parallel  of  49  degrees  is  the  northern 
boundary  of  our  just  claim,  because  for  many  years  it  was  assu- 
med as  such  by  our  Government,  and  that  we  are  bound  by  its  ear- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    OASS.  241 

ly  course  in  this  controversy;  that  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  1713, 
between  France  and  England,  provided  for  the  appointment  of 
commissioners,  to  establish  a  line  of  division  between  their  respec- 
tive colonies  upon  the  continent  of  North  America,  and  that  this 
parallel  of  49  degrees  was  thus  established.  The  honorable  Sena- 
tor from  Georgia,  in  his  remarks  a  few  days  since,  if  he  did  not 
abandon  this  pretension,  still  abandoned  all  reference  to  it,  in  the 
support  of  his  position.  He  contended,  that  the  parallel  of  49 
degrees  was  our  boundary,  but  for  other  reasons.  In  the  view  I 
am  now  taking,  sir,  my  principal  object,  as  will  be  seen,  is  to  show 
that  we  are  at  full  liberty  to  assert  our  claim  to  the  country  north 
.of  49  degrees,  unembarrassed  by  the  early  action  of  our  own  Gov- 
ernment, by  showing  that  the  Government  was  led  into  error  re- 
specting its  rights  by  an  historical  statement,  probably  inaccurate 
in  itself,  certainly  inaccurate,  if  applied  to  Oregon,  but  then  sup- 
posed to  be  true  in  both  respects.  Now,  what  was  this  error  ?  It 
was  the  assertion  I  have  just  mentioned,  that  agreeably  to  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht,  the  parallel  of  49  degrees  was  established  as  a  boun- 
dary, and  having  be?n  continued  west,  had  become  the  northern 
limit  of  Oregon — at  least  of  our  Oregon.  Upon  this  ground,  and 
upon  this  ground  alone,  rested  the  actions  and  the  pretensions  of 
our  Government  in  this  matter.  So  far  then,  as  any  question  of 
national  faith  or  justice  is  involved  in  this  subject,  we  must  test 
the  proceedings  of  the  Government  by  its  own  views,  not  by  other 
considerations  presented  here  at  this  day.  The  Government  of 
the  United  States  gave  to  that  of  Great  Britain  their  claim,  and 
their  reasons  for  it.  That  claim  first  stopped  at  49  degrees,  while 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht  was  supposed  to  affect  it,  as  part  of  Louisi- 
ana, and  before  we  had  acquired  another  title  by  the  acquisition  of 
Florida.  Since  then,  it  has  been  ascertained  that  that  treaty  never 
extended  to  Oregon  ;  and  we  have  strengthened  and  perfected  out 
claim  by  another  purchase.  It  is  for  these  reasons,  that  I  confine 
myself  to  what  has  passed  between  the  two  Governments,  with  a 
view  to  ascertain  our  present  obligations,  and  omit  the  considera- 
tions presented  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Georgia.  I  will 
barely  remark,  however,  that  in  the  far  most  important  fact  to 
•which  he  refers,  as  affecting  the  extent  of  our  claim — to  wit :  the 
latitude  of  the  source  of  the  Columbia  river — he  is  under  a  mis- 
apprehension. He  put  it  at  49  degrees.  But  it  is  far  north  of 
that.  It  is  navigable  by  canoes  to  the  Three  Forks,  about  the 
latitude  of  52  degrees.  How  far  beyond  that  is  its  head  spring,  I 
know  not. 

Mr.  Greenhow,  in' his  work  on  Oregon — a  work  marked  with 
talent,  industry,  and  caution — has  explained  how  this  misappre- 
hension respecting  the  parallel  of  49  degrees  originated.  He  has 
brought  forward  proofs,  both  positive  and  negative,  to  show  that  no 
such  line  was  established  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  nor  by  commis- 
saries, named  to  carry  its  provisions  into  effect.  I  shall  not  go 
over  the  subject,  but  beg  leave  to  refer  the  gentlemen,  who  main- 

16 


242  LIFE    OF   GENERAL    CASS. 

tain  the  contrary  opinion,  to  the  investigations  they  will  find  in 
that  work.  The  assertion,  however,  has  been  so  peremptorily 
made,  and  the  conclusions  drawn  from  it,  if  true,  and  if  the  line 
extended  to  Oregon,  would  discredit  so  large  a  portion  of  our  title 
to  that  country,  that  I  may  be  pardoned  for  briefly  alluding  to  one 
or  two  considerations,  which  seem  to  me  to  demonstrate  the  error 
respecting  this  assumed  line  of  parallel  of  49  degrees,  at  any  rate 
in  its  extension  to  Oregon. 

It  will  be  perceived,  sir,  that  there  are  two  questions  involved 
in  this  matter  ;  one  a  purely  historical  question,  whether  commis- 
saries acting  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  established  the  parallel 
of  49  degrees  as  the  boundary  between  the  French  and  English 
possessions  upon  this  continent ;  and  the  other  a  practical  one, 
whether  such  a  line  was  extended  west  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  . 

As  to  the  first,  sir,  I  fefer  honorable  Senators  to  Mr.  Greenhow's 
work,  and  to  the  authorities  he  quotes.  I  do  not  presume  to  speak 
authoritatively  upon  the  question,  but  I  do  not  hesitate  to  express 
my  opinion  that  Mr.  Greenhow  has  made  out  a  strong  case ;  and 
my  own  impression  is,  that  such  a  line  was  not  actually  and  offi- 
cially established.  Still,  sir,  I  do  not  say  that  it  is  a  point,  upon 
which  there  may  not  be  differences  of  opinion  ;  nor  that,  however 
it  may  be  ultimately  determined,  the  solution  of  the  matter  will 
discredit  the  judgment  of  any  one.  This,  however,  has  relation  to 
the  line  terminating  with  the  Hudson  Bay  possessions ;  and  as  I 
have  observed,  the  fact  is  a  mere  question  of  history,  without  the 
least  bearing  upon  our  controversy  with  England. 

I  have,  however,  one  preliminary  remark  to  make  in  this  con- 
nexion, and  it  is  this :  let  him  who  asserts  that  our  claim  west  of 
the  Rocky  mountains  is  bounded  by  the  parallel  of  49  degrees, 
prove  it.  The  burden  is  upon  him,  not  upon  us.  If  commissaries 
under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  established  it,  produce  their  award. 
Proof  of  it,  if  it  exists,  is  to  be  found  in  London  or  Paris.  Such 
an  act  was  not  done  without  leaving  the  most  authentic  evidence 
behind  it.  Produce  it.  When  was  the  award  made?  What  were 
its  terms  ?  What  were  its  circumstances  ?  Why,  a  suit  between 
man  and  man  for  an  inch  of  land,  would  not  be  decided  by  such 
evidence  as  this,  especially  discredited  as  it  is,  in  any  court  of  the 
United  States.  The  party  claiming  under  it  would  be  told,  There 
is  better  evidence  in  your  power.  Seek  it  in  London  or  Paris,  and 
bring  forward  the  certified  copy  of  the  proceedings  of  the  commis- 
sioners. This  is  equally  the  dictate  of  common  sense  and  of  com- 
mon law,  and  there  is  not  always  the  same  union  between  those 
high  tribunals,  as  many  know,  to  their  cost.  Let  no  man,  there- 
fore, assume  this  line  as  a  barrier  to  his  country's  claim  without 
proving  it. 

This  line  is  first  historically  made  known  in  the  negotiations  be- 
tween our  Government  and  that  of  England  by  Mr.  Madison,  in  a 
dispatch  to  Mr.  Monroe  in  1804.  Mr.  Madison  alludes  to  an  his- 
torical notice  he  had  somewhere  found,  stating  that  commissioners 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  243 

under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  had  established  the  line  of  49  degrees 
as  the  boundary  of  the  British  and  French  possessions,  thus  fixing 
that  parallel  as  the  northern  boundary  of  Louisiana.  I  have  exam- 
ined this  dispatch,  and  I  find  that  he  speaks  doubtfully  respecting 
the  authenticity  of  this  notice  ;  and  desires  Mr.  Monroe,  before 
he  made  it  the  basis  of  a  proposition,  to  ascertain  if  the  facts  were 
truly  stated,  as  the  means  of  doing  so  were  not  to  be  found  in  this 
country.  Mr.  Monroe,  however,  could  have  made  no  investiga- 
tion ;  or,  if  he  did  so,  it  must  have  been  unsatisfactory,  for  he 
transmits  the  proposition  substantially  in  the  words  of  the  historian 
Douglass,  from  whom,  probably,  Mr.  Madison  acquired  this  notice, 
without  reference  to  any  authority,  either  historical  or  diplomatic. 

I  cannot  find,  that  the  British  Government  ever  took  the  slight- 
est notice  of  the  assertion  respecting  this  incident,  growing  out  of 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  though  it  has  been  referred  to  more  than 
once  by  our  diplomatic  agents,  in  their  communications  to  the  Bri- 
tish authorities  since  that  period. 

But  in  late  years,  it  has  disappeared  from  the  correspondence, 
and  neither  party  has  adverted  to  it,  nor  relied  upon  it.  It  is 
strange,  indeed,  that  in  this  body  we  should  now  assume  the  exist- 
ence of  a  fact  like  this,  supposed  to  have  a  most  important  bear- 
ing upon  the  rights  of  the  parties,  when  the  able  men  to  whose 
custody  the  maintenance  of  these  rights  has  been  recently  com- 
mitted, have  totally  abandoned  it  in  tjieir  arguments  and  illustra- 
tions. The  assumption  was  originally,  an  erroneous  one — certainly 
so,  so  far  as  respects  Oregon  ;  but  while  it  was  believed  to  be  true, 
the  consequences  were  rightfully  and  honestly  carried  out  by  our 
Government,  and  the  line  was  claimed  as  a  boundary.  But  our 
Government  is  now  better  informed,  as  the  British  Government,  no 
doubt  always  were,  and  thence  their  silence  upon  the  subject ;  and 
the^titles  of  both  parties  are  investigated  without  reference  to  this 
historic!  error, or  to  the  position  in  which  it  temporarily  placed  them. 

The  treaty  of  Utrecht  never  refers  to  the  parallel  of  49  degrees, 
and  the  boundaries  it  proposed  to  establish  were  those  between  the 
French  and  English  colonies,  including  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 
in  Canada.  The  charter  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  granted  to 
the  proprietors  all  the  '-lands,  countries  and  territories,"  upon  the 
waters  discharging  themselves  into  Hudson's  Bay.  At  the  date. of 
the  treaty  of  Utrechtv  which  was  in  1713,  Great  Britain  claimed 
nothing  west  of  those  "lands,  countries  and  territories,"  and  of 
course  there  was  nothing  to  divide  between  her  and  France  west 
of  that  line.  . 

Again,  in  1713,  the  northwestern  coast  was  almost  a  terra  incog- 
nita— a  blank  upon  the  map  of  the  world.  England  then  neither 
knew  a  foot  of  it,  nor  claimed  a  foot  of  it.  By  adverting  to  the 
letter  of  Messrs.  Gallatin  and  Rush,  communicating  an  account  of 
their  interview  with  Messrs.  Goulburn  and  Robinson,  British  com- 
missioners, dated  October  20th,  1818,  and  to  the  letter  of  Mr.  Pa- 
kenham  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  dated  September  12th,  1844,  it  will  be 


244  LIFE    OF    GENERAL   CABS. 

seen  that  the  commencement  of  the  British  claim  is  effectively 
limited  to  the  discoveries  of  Captain  Cook  in  1778.  How,  then, 
could  a  boundary  have  been  established  fifty  years  before,  in  a  re- 
gion where  no  Englishman  had  ever  penetrated,  and  to  which  Eng- 
land had  never  asserted  a  pretension?  And  yet  the  assumption, 
that  the  parallel  of  49  degrees  was  established  by  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht,  as  a  line  between  France  and  England,  in  those  unknown 
regions,  necessarily  involves  these  inconsistent  conclusions.  But 
besides,  if  England,  as  a  party  to  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  established 
this  line  running  to  the  western  ocean  as  the  northern  boundary  of 
Louisiana,  what  possible  claim  has  she  now  south  of  that  line  ? 
The  very  fact  of  her  existing  pretensions,  however  unfounded  these 
may  be,  shows  that  she  considers  herself  no  party  to  such  a  line 
of  division.  It  shows,  in  fact,  that  no  line  was  run  ;  for  if  it  had 
been,  the  evidence  of  it  would  be  in  the  English  archives,  and,  in 
truth,  would  be  known  to  the  world  without  contradiction.  The 
establishment  of  a  boundary  between  two  great  nations  is  no  hid- 
den fact ;  and  we  may  now  safely  assume,  that  the  parallel  of  49 
degrees  never  divided  the  Oregon  territory,  and  establishes  no  bar- 
rier to  the  rights  by  which  we  claim  it.  The  assertion  was  origi- 
nally a  mere  dictum,  now  shown  to  be  unfounded. 

The  Senator  from  Maine  has  adverted  likewise  to  the  treaty  of 
1763,  as  furnishing  additional  testimony  in  favor  of  this  line. 
That  treaty  merely  provdes,  that  the  confines  between  the  British 
and  French  dominions  shall  be  fixed  irrevocably  by  a  line  drawn 
along  the  middle  of  the  river  Mississippi,  from  its  source,  &,c. 
This  is  the  whole  provision  that  bears  upon  this  subject.  I  do  not 
stop  to  analyze  it.  That  cannot  be  necessary.  It  is  obvious  that 
this  arrangement  merely  established  the  Mississippi  river  as  a 
boundary  between  the  two  countries,  leaving  their  other  claims 
precisely  as  they  formerly  existed.  And  this,  too,  was  fifteen 
years  before  the  voyage  of  Captain  Cook,  the  commencemenl>of 
the  British  title  on  the  northwest  coast.  Briefly,  sir,  there  are  six 
reasons,  which  prove  that  this  parallel  was  never  established  un- 
der the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  so  far  at  least  as  regards  Oiegon. 

1.  It  is  not  shown  that  any  line  was  established  on  the  parallel 
of  49  to  the  Pacific  ocean. 

If  the  fact  be  so,  the  proper  evidence  is  at  Paris  or  London,  and 
should  be  produced. 

2.  The  country  on  the  northwestern  coast  was  then  unknown, 
and  I  believe  unclaimed ;    or,  at  any  rate,  no  circumstances  had 
arisen  to  call  in  question  any  claim  to  it. 

3.  The  British  negotiators  in  1826,  and  their  Minister  here  in 
1844,  fixed,  in  effect,  upon  the  voyage  of  Captain  Cook  in  1778, 
as  the  commencement  of  the  British  title  in  what  is  now  called 
Oregon. 

4.  The  treaty  of  Utrecht  provides  for  the  establishment  of  a  line 
between  the  French  and  English  colonies,  including  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company.     The  British  held  nothing  west  of  that  company's 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  245 

possessions,  which,  by  the  charter,  includes  only  the  "lands,  coun- 
tries and  territories,"  on  the  waters  running  into  Hudson's  Bay. 

5.  If  England  established  the  line  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  she  can 
have  no  claim  south  of  it ;  and  this  kind  of  argumentum  ad  homi- 
nem  becomes  conclusive.     And,  let  me  add,   that  I  owe  this  argu- 
ment to  my  friend  from  Missouri,   [Mr.  ATCHISON,]  to  whose  re- 
marks upon  Oregon  the  Senate  listened  with  profit  and  pleasure 
some  days  since. 

6.  How  could  France  and  England  claim  the  country  to  the  Pa- 
cific, so  as  to  divide  it  between  them  in   1730,  when,  as  late  as 
1790,  the  British  Government,  by  the  Nootka  convention,  express- 
ly recognized  the  Spanish  title  to  that  country,  and  claimed  only 
the  use  of  it  for  its  own  subjects,  in  common  with  those  of  Spain  ? 

I  now  ask,  sir,  what  right  has  any  American  statesman,  or  what 
right  has  any  British  statesman,  to  contend  that  our  claim,  what- 
ever it  may  be,  is  not  just  as  good  north  of  this  line  as  it  is  south 
of  it.  When  this  question  is  answered  to  my  satisfaction,  I,  for 
one,  will  consent  to  stop  there.  But  until  then,  I  am  among  those 
who  mean  to  march,  if  we  can,  to  the  Russian  boundary. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  it  is  the  very  ground  assumed  by  the  Sena- 
tor from  North  Carolina,  and  by  other  Senators,  respecting  this 
parallel  of  49  degrees,  together  with  the  course  of  this  discussion, 
which  furnishes  me  with  the  most  powerful  argument  against  the 
reference  of  this  controversy  to  arbitration. 

I  have  shown,  I  trust,  that  there  is  no  such  line  of  demarcation, 
established  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  extending  to  the  Oregon 
territory,  and  the  misapprehension,  whence  the  opinion  arose. 

While  such  a  conviction  prevailed,  it  was  fairly  and  properly 
assumed  by  the  Government  as  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Ore- 
gon claim,  before  the  Florida  treaty.  Since  that  treaty  I  consider 
the  offers  on  our  part  as  offers  of  compromise,  not  recognitions  of 
a  line,  from  the  resumption  of  negotiations  by  Mr.  Rush,  who  car- 
ried our  title  to  51  degrees,  to  their  abandonment  in  1827  by  Mr. 
Gallatin,  who,  finding  a  satisfactory  adjustment  impossible,  with- 
drew the  pending  offer,  and  asserted  that  his  Government  "would 
consider  itself  at  liberty  to  contend  for  the  full  extent  of  the  claims 
of  the  United  States."  And  for  their  full  extent  we  do  claim. 
And  I  take  the  opportunity  to  tender  my  small  tribute  of  approba- 
tion to  the  general  conduct  of  these  negotiations  by  the  American 
Government,  and  their  commissioners,  and  especially  to  Mr.  Rush, 
a  citizen  as  well  known  for  his  private  worth  as  for  his  high  talents 
and  great  public  services,  and  who  seems  to  have  been  the  first, 
as  Mr.  Greenhow  remarks,  "to  inquire  carefully  into  the  facts  of 
the  case." 

And  it  is  not  one  of  the  least  curious  phases  of  this  controversy, 
that  down  to  this  very  day  the  pretensions  of  England  are  either 
wholly  contradictory,  or  are  shrouded  in  apparently  studied  obscu- 
rity. She  asserts  no  exclusive  claim  anywhere,  but  an  equal  claim 
everywhere. 


246  LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS. 

"A  right  of  joint  occupancy  in  the  Oregon  territory,"  says  the 
British  Minister  in  his  letter  to  Mr. Calhoun,  dated  September  12th, 
1844,  "of  which  right  she  can  be  divested  with  respect  to  any  part 
of  that  territory,  only  by  an  equal  partition  of  the  whole  between 
the  parties." 

And  yet,  notwithstanding  he  refers  to  the  whole  territory,  still, 
in  the  protocol  of  the  conference  at  Washington,  dated  Septem- 
ber 12th,  1844,  he  refused  to  enter  into  any  discussion  respecting 
the  country  north  of  49  degrees,  because  it  was  understood  by  the 
British  Government  to  form  the  bafis  of  negotiation  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States.  Thus,  on  the  12th  of  September,  recognizing 
our  right  to  an  equal,  undivided  moiety  of  Oregon,  and  two  weeks 
after  coolly  claiming  the  northern  half  of  it,  as  a  fact  not  even  to 
be  called  into  question,  and  then  offering  to  discuss  with  us  the 
mutual  claims  of  the  two  countries  to  the  southern  half! 

Well,  sir,  influenced  by  the  motives  I  have  stated,  and  by  a  de- 
sire to  terminate  this  tedious  controversy,  this  parallel  of  49  de- 
grees, sometimes  without  an  accessory,  has  been  four  times  offer- 
ed by  us  to  the  British  Government,  and  four  times  rejected,  and 
once  indignantly  so  ;  and  three  times  withdrawn.  Twice  with- 
drawn in  the  very  terms — once  by  Mr.  Gallatin,  November  loth, 
1826,  who  withdrew  a  proposition  made  by  Mr.  Rush,  and  once 
during  the  present  administration  ;  and  once  withdrawn  in  effect, 
though  without  the  use  of  that  word,  by  Mr.  Gallatin,  in  1827, 
who  announced  to  the  British  negotiators  "that  his  Government 
did  not  hold  itself  bound  hereafter,  in  consequence  of  any  propo- 
sal, which  it  had  made  for  a  line  of  separation  between  the  terri- 
tories of  the  two  nations  beyond  the  Rocky  mountains  ;  but  would 
consider  itself  at  liberty  to  contend  for  the  full  extent  of  the  claims 
of  the  United  States." 

The  Senator  from  Louisiana  will  perceive,  that  he  was  in  error 
yesterday,  when  he  said,  that  no  offer  of  a  compromise  had  ever 
been  withdrawn,  till  the  withdrawal  made  by  the  present  Adminis- 
tration, unless  such  offer  had  been  announced  as  an  ultimatum. 
But  without  recurring  to  any  authority  upon  this  subject,  it  is  evi- 
dent, that  if  a  nation  is  forever  bound  by  an  offer  of  compromise, 
no  prudent  nation  would  ever  make  such  an  offer.  There  would 
be  no  reciprocity  in  such  a  condition  of  things.  In  controversies 
respecting  territory,  each  party  would  hold  on  to  its  extreme  limit; 
for  if  it  made  an  offer  less  than  that,  it  would  abandon,  in  fact,  so 
much  of  its  own  pretensions,  leaving  those  of  its  opponent  in  their 
full  integrity. 

Such,  sir,  is  the  state  of  our  controversy  with  England  ;  and 
yet  honorable  Senators  upon  this  floor,  able  lawyers  and  jurists  al- 
so, maintain  that  this  line,  thus  offered,  and  refused,  and  with- 
drawn, is  now  in  effect  the  limit  of  our  claim,  and  that  we  are 
bound  honorably,  and  morally,  and  they  say,  at  the  risk  of  the 
censure  of  the  world,  to  receive  it  as  our  boundary  whenever  Eng- 
land chooses  so  to  accept  it.  This  is  all  very  strange,  and  would 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  247 

seem  to  me  so  untenable,  as  not  to  be  worthy  of  examination,  if  it 
were  not  urged  by  such  high  authorities.     Let  us  look  at  it. 

The  honorable  Senator  from  Maryland  has  entered  more  fully 
into  this  branch  of  the  subject  than  any  other  member  of  this  body, 
and  I  shall  therefore  confine  my  inquiries  to  his  remarks. 

There  are  two'  propositions  connected  with  this  matter,  which 
it  is  proper  to  consider  separately.  The  first  is,  the  obligation 
upon  the  President,  agreeably  to  his  own  views,  to  accept  this  re- 
jected offer,  if  it  comes  back  to  him ;  and  the  other  is,  the  obliga- 
tion upon  the  country,  and  upon  this  body,  as  one  of  its  deposita- 
ries of  the  treaty-making  power,  to  confirm  the  act  of  the  Presi- 
dent, should  it  come  here  for  confirmation.  What,  sir,  is  a  com- 
promise ?  It  is  an  offer  made  by  one  party  to  the  other  to  take 
less  than  his  whole  claim,  with  a  view  to  an  amicable  adjustment 
of  the  controversy,  whatever  this  may  be.  The  doctrine  of  com- 
promises is  founded  upon  universal  reason;  and  its  obligations,  I 
believe,  are  everywhere  the  same,  whether  in  the  codes  of  munici- 
pal or  general  law.  An  offer  made  in  this  spirit  never  furnishes 
the  slightest  presumption  against  the  claim  of  the  party  making  it; 
and  for  the  best  of  reasons,  not  only  that  this  amicable  process  of 
settlement  may  be  encouraged  and  extended,  but  because  it  will 
often  happen,  that  both  individuals  and  nations  may  be  willing  to 
sacrifice  a  portion  of  what  they  consider  their  just  rights,  rather 
than  encounter  the  certain  expense  and  trouble,  and  the  uncertain 
issue  of  litigation,  whether  that  litigation  be  in  a  court  of  justice, 
or  upon  a  battle  field.  Such  is  the  general  principle ;  and  the 
practical  operation  of  any  other  would  hold  one  of  the  parties  for- 
ever free.  One  makes  his  offer,  and  must  adhere  to  it,  while  the 
other  declines  it,  or  refuses  it,  and  still  may  hold  on  to  it  indefinitely. 

Surely  it  cannot  be  necessary  to  pursue  this  illustration  farther. 
Such  a  construction  as  this,  which  plays  fast  and  loose  at  the  same 
time,  carries  with  it  its  own  refutation,  however  respectable  the 
authority,  which  attempts  to  support  it.  Bu^  reverting  to  the  ob- 
ligation of  the  President,  what  says  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Maryland  ?  He  says  that  the  President — not  James  K.  Polk,  but 
the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation — having  felt  an  implied  obliga- 
tion to  renew  the  offer  of  49  degrees,  is  now  bound  in  all  time  to  ac 
cept  it,  and,  I  suppose,  patiently  to  wait  for  it,  till  the  demand 
comes.  1  must  say,  that  in  this  brief  abstract  of  the  President's 
views,  the  Senator  has  hardly  done  justice  to  him.  I  do  not  stand 
here  to  say,  what  the  President  will  do,  should  Great  Britain  pro- 
pose to  accept  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees,  as  the  boundary 
between  the  two  countries.  In  the  first  place  it  would  be  to  argue 
upon  a  gratuitous  assumption.  I  have  not  the  slightest  reason  to 
believe,  that  the  British  government  have  given  any  intimation 
that  it  will  ever  come  back  to  that  line.  But,  in  the  second  place, 
if  it  should,  what  then  ?  The  incipient  step  is  for  the  President  to 
take,  and  I  should  leave  the  matter  here,  without  remark,  had  not 
the  Senator  from  Maryland,  and  the  Senator  from  North  Carolina 


248  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

and  other  Senators,  labored  to  impress  the  conviction,  that  the 
President  ought,  and  must,  and  would  close  with  the  British  pro- 
position to  accept  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees,  should  it  be 
made.  I  shall  not  analyze  the  words  of  the  President's  message, 
but  content  myself  with  a  general  allusion  to  it.  Truth  is  seldom 
promoted  by  picking  out  particular  phrases,  and  placing  them  in 
juxtaposition.  The  President  says — and  it  is  evident  the  whole 
message  was  carefully  prepared — that  though  he  entertained  the 
settled  conviction,  that  the  British  title  to  atiy  portion  of  Oregon 
could  not  be  maintained  ;  yet,  in  deference  to  the  action  of  his 
predecessors,  and  to  what  had  been  done,  and  in  consideration, 
that  the  pending  negotiation  had  been  commenced  on  the  basis  of 
compromise,  he  determined,  in  a  spirit  of  compromise,  to  offer  a 
part  of  what  had  been  offered  before — the  parallel  of  forty-nine 
degrees,  without  the  navigation  of  the  Columbia  river.  He  says 
this  proposition  was  rejected,  and  in  what  terms  we  all  know,  and 
that  he  immediately  withdrew  it,  and  then  asserted  our  title  to  the 
whole  of  Oregon,  and  maintained  it  by  irrefragable  arguments. 
Now,  sir,  I  am  not  going  to  argue  with  any  man,  who  seeks  to  de- 
duce from  this  language  a  conviction  in  the  mind  of  the  President, 
that  he  considers  himself  under  the  slightest  obligation  to  England 
to  accept  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees,  should  she  desire  it 
as  a  boundary.  In  this  account  of  his  proceedings,  he  is  explain- 
ing to  his  countrymen  the  operations  of  his  own  mind,  the  reasons 
which  induced  him  to  make  this  offer,  made,  as  he  says,  "in  de- 
ference alone  to  what  had  been  done  by  my  predecessors,  and  the 
implied  obligations  their  acts  seemed  to  impose."  What  obliga- 
tions 1  None  to  England,  for  none  had  been  created  ;  but  the 
obligations  imposed  upon  a  prudent  statesman  to  look  at  the  actions 
and  views  of  his  predecessors,  and  not  to  depart  from  them  with- 
out good  reasons.  The  obvious  meaning  is  this  :  I  found  the  ne- 
gotiations pending;  after  an  interval  of  almost  twenty  years,  they 
had  been  renewed ;  .they  began  on  the  basis  of  compromise,  and 
though  three  times  a  compromise  had  been  offered  to  England  and 
rejected,  and  though  she  had  not  the  slightest  right  to  claim,  or 
even  expect  it  would  be  offered  to  her  again,  and  though  I  deter- 
mined, that  the  same  proposition  should  not  be  offered  to  her,  still, 
as  a  proof  of  the  moderation  of  the  United  States,  I  deemed  it  ex- 
pedient to  make  her  another  offer,  less  than  the  preceding  one, 
which,  a  quarter  of  a  century  before,  she  had  rejected.  A  curious 
obligation  this,  if  it  had  reference  to  the  rights  of  England,  and  a 
curious  mode  of  fulfilling  it !  If  he  (the  President)  were  under 
any  obligation,  the  obligation  was  complete,  to  make  the  offer  as 
it  had  been  made  before.  And  she  has  the  same  right  to  claim 
the  navigation  of  the  Columbia  river,  that  she  has  to  claim  the 
parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees  as  a  boundary  ;  and  the  honorable 
Senator  from  Louisiana  has  placed  the  matter  upon  this  very 
ground.  Assuming,  that  the  obligation  referred  to  by  the  Presi- 
dent was  an  obligation  to  England,  he  thinks  the  President  failed 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 


in  his  duty  in  not  carrying  out  his  own  views  of  the  national  duties. 

Why,  sir,  if  offers  of  compromise  were  to  be  made  till  doomsday, 
the  rights  of  both  parties  would  remain  in  their  integrity.  And 
what  offer  creates  this  implied  obligation  ?  Several  offers  have 
been  made  by  our  government  to  that  of  England  for  the  adjust- 
ment of  this  controversy.  Which  creates  this  obligation,  one  of 
them,  or  all  of  them  ?  But  it  is  very  clear,  sir,  that  neither  of  them 
creates  it.  The  common-sense  view  of  this  subject  is  the  true  one 
in  this  case,  and  in  most  other  cases.  The  party  offering  says  to 
its  adversary,  I  will  consent  to  that  line.  If  you  consent  to  it,  our 
controversy  will  be  amicably  adjusted.  The  only  obligation  created 
by  this  act  is,  to  allow  reasonable  time  to  the  other  party  for  deci- 
sion, and  then  faithfully  to  adhere  to  the  terms,  should  they  be  ac- 
cepted. If  unreasonably  delayed,  still  more,  if  rejected,  both  par- 
ties are  thrown  back  upon  their  original  position,  unembarrassed 
by  this  attempt  at  conciliation. 

But,  sir,  the  President  is  a  judge  of  his  own  duties.  I  am  not 
afraid  td  leave  them  with  him  —  they  are  in  safe  keeping.  Should 
the  question  respecting  this  parallel  ever  be  presented  to  him  for 
decision,  I  have  a  perfect  conviction,  that  whether  he  decide  for 
it  or  against  it,  or  refer  it  to  the  consideration  of  the  Senate,  he 
will  fulfill  his  responsible  duties  with  a  conscientious  regard  to  the 
high  obligations  he  is  under  to  the  country  and  to  the  Constitu- 
tion. But  we,  too,  have  duties  to  perform,  and  among  these  may 
be  the  necessity  of  deciding  for  ourselves  the  nature  and  extent  of 
this  obligation  upon  the  nation. 

I  do  not  speak  now  of  any  considerations  of  expediency,  which 
may  operate  upon  the  decision  of  this  matter.  There  are  none 
which  will  operate  upon  me.  But  I  assume  to  myself  no  right  to 
prescribe  the  course  of  others,  whether  of  the  President  or  of  the 
Senate,  or  to  judge  it  when  taken.  But  I  reject  this  doctrine  of 
a  national  obligation  to  England.  I  deny  the  right  of  any  one  to 
commit  the  faith  of  this  country  to  a  rejected  line  —  to  bind  us, 
leaving  our  opponent  unbound  —  to  convert  a  mere  offer  of  com- 
promise into  the  surrender  of  a  claihi  ;  to  change  the  established 
opinions  and  usages  of  the  world  upon  this  subject.  It  seems  to 
me  that  a  cause  cannot  be  strong  which  needs  such  auxiliaries  for 
its  support. 

But,  sir,  this  doctrine,  as  I  before  observed,  and  the  course  of 
the  remarks  by  which  it  is  endeavored  to  maintain  it,  furnish  to 
me  conclusive  arguments  against  the  reference  of  this  controversy 
to  arbitration.  Here,  at  home,  in  this  co-ordinate  branch  of  the 
national  legislature,  we  are  told,  and  almost  ez  cathedra  too,  that 
we  have  concluded  ourselves,  by  this  offer  of  forty-nine  degrees, 
and  that  upon  that  parallel  must  be  our  boundary,  when  England 
makes  up  her  mind  to  come  to  it.  Now,  in  this  state  of  the  mat- 
ter, what  would  be  the  effect  of  an  arbitration  ?  The  Secretary  of 
State,  in  his  answer  to  the  British  Minister,  has  ably  and  truly  ex- 
posed the  tendency  of  this  process  of  adjustment,  whether  public 


250  LIFE    OF   GENERAL    CASS. 

or  private.  Its  tendency  is  not  to  settle  the  actual  rights  of  the 
parties,  but  to  compromise  them.  To  divide,  and  not  to  decide. 
We  all  know  this,  and  he  who  runs  may  read  it  in  the  history  of 
almost  every  arbitration,  within  the  circle  of  his  observation. 
Though,  as  I  have  already  said,  the  offers  of  compromise  we  have 
made  to  England  ought  not  to  furnish  the  slightest  presumption 
against  the  validity  of  our  whole  claim,  and  would  not,  before  any 
well-regulated  judicial  tribunal  in  Christendom,  yet  commit  our 
cause  to  arbitration,  and  where  are  we  ?  We  might  as  well  throw 
to  the  winds  all  the  facts,  and  arguments,  and  illustrations,  upon 
which  we  build  our 'claim,  and  say  to  the  arbitrators,  do  as  you 
please,  we  are  at  your  mercy,  For  this  they  would  do  at  any  rate. 
They  would  not  heed  your  views,  but  they  would  turn  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  controversy,  and  to  the  course  of  the  parties.  They 
would  measure  what  each  had  offered,  and  would  split  the  differ- 
ence to  the  ninth  part  of  a  hair.  They  would  assume,  that  the 
American  claim  goes  to  the  forty-ninth  parallel,  and  the  British 
claim  to  the  Columbia  river  ;  and  they  would  add,  and  subtract, 
and  multiply,  and  divide,  till  all  this  process  would  end  in  a  toler- 
ably equal  partition  of  what  no  one  on  this  floor  denies,  and  what 
every  American,  or  almost  every  American,  as  firmly  believes 
makes  part  of  his  country,  as  does  the  tomb  at  Mount  Vernon,  or 
the  grave  at  the  Hermitage,  where  countless  generations  of  men 
will  come  as  to  places  of  pilgrimage — not,  indeed,  to  worship,  but 
to  think  upon  the  days  and  the  deeds  of  the  patriots  and  warriors 
who  sleep  below.  You  could  not  find  a  sovereign  nor  a  subject, 
a  State  nor  a  citizen  in  Christendom,  who,  in  such  a  controversy 
between  two  great  nations,  would  not  rather  decide  with  the  divi- 
ders, than  with  the  titles.  Well,  sir,  I  agree  fully,  that  if  we  wish 
to  get  rid  of  all  this  matter  without  regard  to  the  why  or  the  how, 
we  may  safely  commit  it  to  the  custody  of  arbitrators.  Their  de- 
cision, though  we  should  know  it  before  hand,  might  be  consid- 
ered a  plaster  for  our  wounded  honor.  A  poor  one,  indeed,  which 
would  leave  a  most  unsightly  scar.  But,  in  reality,  sir,  this  course 
of  action  would  be  open  and  obvious  to  ourselves  and  to  the  world. 
Its  motives  and  its  results  would  be  equally  palpable.  We  should 
lose  much  in  interest,  and  much  more  in  character.  For  myself, 
I  would  far  rather  divide  with  England  this  portion  of  the  territory, 
than  commit  our  rights  to  arbitration  There  would  be  some  mag- 
nanimity in  such  a  procedure.  But  to  take  shelter  behind  this 
form  of  trial  is  to  resort  to  a  miserable  subterfuge,  which,  under 
the  pretext  of  an  equal  adjustment,  would  be  but  a  surrender.  If, 
then,  we  seriously  believe  in  our  own  claims,  even  to  forty-nine 
degrees,  and  sincerely  desire  to  maintain  them,  we  must  unite  in 
approving  the  rejection,  by  the  President,  of  this  pacific  means  of 
transferring  to  England  a  valuable  part  of  our  common  country. 

Mr.  President,  the  honorable  Senator  from  North  Carolfna,  not 
now  in  his  seat,  called  those,  who  believe  our  title  to  fifty-four  de- 
grees forty  minutes  to  be  clear,  the  ultra  friends  of  the  President, 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  251 

and,  I  understood  him,  he  claimed  to  be  his  true  friend,  saving  him 
from  those  imprudent  ones.  As  I  find  myself  in  this  category,  I 
am  obnoxious  to  the  charge,  and  with  the  natural  instinct  of  self- 
defence,  I  desire  to  repel  it.  We  are  ultra  friends,  because  we 
do  not  stop  at  forty-nine  degrees.  I  have  already  shown,  that 
there  is  no  stopping  place  on  that  parallel — no  true  rest  for  an 
American  foot.  The  Senator  himself  considers  our  title  to  that 
line  clear  and  indisputable,  and  I  understood  him  that  he  would 
maintain  it,  come  what  might.  Well,  if  it  is  found  that  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht  no  more  extended  to  Oregon  than  to  the  moon,  whatever 
other  boundary  may  be  sought  or  found,  it  cannot  be  that  purely 
gratuitous  boundary — the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees.  And  as 
the  Senator  from  North  Carolina  must  leave  it,  where  will  he  find 
a  better  barrier  than  the  Russian  possessions?  But  he  says,  also, 
that  though  our  title  to  the  country  north  of  forty-nine  degrees  is 
not  indisputable,  still  it  is  better  than  any  other  title.  .Now,  I  will 
appeal  to  the  Senator's  charity — no,  not  to  his  charity,  that  is  not 
necessary — but  I  will  appeal  to  his  sense  of  justice,  to  say,  whether 
such  a  difference  of  opinion  as  exists  between  himself  and  me  on 
this  subject  can  justly  be  characterized  as  ultraism  on  my  part. 
Our  title,  he  says,  is  the  best — not  indisputable  ;  but  still  the  best. 
The  same  evidence,  which  produced  this  conviction  in  his  mind, 
produces  a  stronger  one  in  mine ;  and  this  is  the  tribute,  which 
every  day's  experience  pays  to  human  fallibility  We  are  differ- 
ently constituted,  and  differently  affected  by  the  same  facts  and 
arguments.  While  the  honorable  Senator  stands  upon  the  parallel 
of  forty-nine  degrees,  as  the  precise  line,  where  our  questionable 
and  unquestionable  titles  meet,  there  are  many,  and  I  am  among 
the  number,  who  carry  our  unquestionable  title  to  the  Russian 
boundary  in  one  direction,  and  some,  perhaps,  though  I  have  not 
found  one,  who  carry  it  in  another  direction  to  the  Columbia  river. 
It  seems  to  me  in  bad  taste,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  for  any  member 
to  assume  his  own  views  as  infallible,  and  to  say  to  all  the  world, 
who  differ  from  him,  whether  on  the  right  hand  or  the  left,  my  op- 
inion is  the  true  standard  of  orthodoxy,  and  every  one  who  departs 
from  it  is  a  heretic  and  an  ultra.  Thus  to  stigmatize  a  larg-i  por- 
tion of  the  Senate,  is  not,  I  am  sure,  the  intention  of  the  Senator  ; 
but  such  is,  in  fact  and  effect,  the  direct  tendency  of  his  remarks. 
We  are  ultra,  because,  to  use  a  somewhat  quaint  but  a  forcible 
apothegm,  we  will  not  measure  our  corn  by  his  bushel.  Why,  sir, 
we  have  each  a  bushel  of  our  own,  given  us  by  the  creator,  and 
till  the  Senator's  is  sealed  and  certified  by  a  higher  authority, 
we  beg  leave  to  keep  our  own,  and  to  measure  our  duties  by  it. 

I  did  not  understand  the  precise  object  of  some  of  the  remarks 
of  the  Senator  of  North  Carolina,  though  I  had  less  difficulty  re- 
specting the  remarks  themselves.  He  told  us  the  President  no- 
where claimed  fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes;  and  I  presume  he 
thus  contended  in  order  to  show  that  the  President  might  consist- 
ently accept  any  boundary  south  of  that  parallel.  I  again  disclaim 
all  interference  with  the  President  in  the  execution  of  his  duties. 


252  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

I  do  not  think,  that  what  he  will  do  in  a  gratuitous  case,  should 
furnish  the  subject  of  speculation  upon  this  floor.  I  know  what  I 
will  do,  and  that  is  enough  for  me;  and  as  I  took  the  opportunity, 
three  years  ago,  in  a  public  and  printed  address,  at  Fort  Wayne, 
to  define  my  position  in  this  matter,  before  I  became  a  member  of 
this  body,  my  allusion  to  it  here  cannot  be  deemed  the  premature 
expression  of  my  opinion  I  then  said  : 

"  Our  claim  to  the  country  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains  is  as 
undeniable  as  our  right  to  Bunker's  Hill  and  New  Orleans ;  and 
who  will  call  in  question  our  title  to  these  blood-stained  fields? 
And  I  trust  it  will  be  maintained  with  a  vigor  and  promptitude 
equal  to  its  justice.  War  is  a  great  evil,  but  not  so  great  as  na- 
tional dishonor.  Little  is  gained  by  yielding  to  insolent  and  unjust 
pretensions.  It  is  better  to  defend  the  first  inch  than  the  last. 
Far  better,  in  dealing  with  England,  to  resist  aggression,  whether 
of  impressment,  of  search,  or  of  territory,  when  first  attempted, 
than  to  yield  in  the  hope,  that  forbearance  will  be  met  in  a  just 
spirit,  and  will  lead  to  an  amicable  compromise.  Let  us  have  no 
red  lines  upon  the  map  of  Oregon.  Let  us  hold  on  to  the  integrity 
of  our  just  claim.  And  if  war  come,  be  it  so;  I  do  not  believe  it 
will  be  long  avoided,  unless  prevented  by  intestine  difficulties  in 
the  British  Empire.  And  wo  be  to  us,  if  we  flatter  ourselves  it 
can  be  arrested  by  any  system  of  concession.  Of  all  delusions, 
this  would  be  the  most  fatal,  and  we  should  awake  from  it  a  dis- 
honored, if  not  a  ruined  people." 

Now  the  Oregon  I  claim,  is  all  Oregon,  and  no  vote  of  mine  in 
this  Senate  will  surrender  one  inch  of  it  to  England.  But  the  Sen- 
ator from  North  Carolina  says,  that  the  Oregon  the  President 
claims  is  an  Oregon  of  his  own,  and  not  the  country,  which  now 
excites  the  anxious  solicitude  of  the  American  people.  And  if  it 
were  so,  is  it  the  duty  of  a  friend,  I  may  almost  say  claiming  to  be 
an  exclusive  one,  to  hold  up  to  his  countrymen  the  woid  of  prom- 
ise of  their  Chief  Magistrate,  thus  kept  to  the  ear,  but  not  to  the 
hope  ?  But  it  is  not  so.  The  honorable  Senator  has  been  led  in- 
to an  error — a  palpable  error.  The  President  says  the  British 
pretensions  could  not  be  maintained  to  any  portion  of  the  Oregon 
territory.  He  says,  also,  that  our  title  to  the  whole  of  the  Oregon 
territory  is  maintained  by  irrefragable  facts  and  arguments.  He 
says  British  laws  have  been  extended  throughout  the  whole  of 
Oregon.  Now,  sir,  has  any  man  a  right  to  say,  that  the  President 
falters  in  his  purpose,  by.  talking  of  the  whole  of  a  country,  when 
he  does  not  mean  the  whole  of  it?  No,  sir  ;  the  idea  never  occur- 
red to  him,  never  crossed  his  mind.  When  he  said  Oregon,  he 
meant  so;  and  I  have  no  more  doubt,  than  I  have  of  my  existence, 
that  he  believes  as  firmly  in  the  American  title  to  it,  as  he  believes 
he  is  now  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States. 

If  it  were  possible,  that  this  proposition  needed  support,  it  would 
be  easily  found.  The  communications  of  the  Secretary  of  State, 
are  the  communications  of  the  President,  written  by  his  direction 


LIFE  OF  GENERAL  CASS.  253 

and  submitted  for  his  approbation,  and  never  sent  without  his  su- 
pervision, and  very  seldom,  I  imagine,  without  emendations  by  him. 
The  correspondence  with  the  British  Minister,  laid  before  us  at 
the  commencement  of  the  session,  was  doubly  his.  His,  because 
carried  on  by  his  Secretary  of  State,  with  a  foreign  government, 
and  his,  because  communicated  to  Congress  and  his  country,  as 
the  depositary  of  his  views  and  measures.  Well,  sir,  in  the  letter 
from  the  Secretary  of  State  to  Mr.  Pakenham,  dated  July  12th, 
1845,  Mr.  Buchanan  says : 

"  Upon  the  whole,  from  the  most  careful  and  ample  examination 
which  the  undersigned  has  been  able  to  bestow  upon  the  subject, 
he  is  satisfied  that  the  Spanish  American  title  now  held  by  the 
United  States,  embracing  the  whole  territory  between  the  parallels 
of  forty-two  degrees  and  fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes,  is  the 
best  title  in  existence  to  this  entire  region,"  &c. 

And  he  adds  : 

"  Notwithstanding  such  was  and  still  is  the  opinion  of  the 
President,"  &c. 

Human  words  and  human  deeds  are  worthless  to  disclose  human 
opinions,  if  the  Oregon  of  the  President  is  not  the  Oregon  we 
claim  and  hope  to  secure. 

The  Senator  from  North  Carolina  has  presented  to  us  some  pe- 
culiar views  of  the  President's  position  and  duties,  and  has  deduced 
his  future  course,  not  from  his  message,  but  from  extrinsic  circum- 
stances, acts  of  omission  and  of  commission,  as  he  calls  them,  by 
which  the  language  of  the  President  is  to  be  controlled,  and  his 
further  course  in  this  controversy  regulated.  I  doubt  the  propri- 
ety, as  well  as  the  wisdom  of  all  this,  either  as  regards  the  Presi- 
dent, the  Senate,  or  the  country.  If  successful  in  his  declarations 
or  expositions,  whichever  they  may  be,  I  do  not  see  what  practical 
advantage  the  Senator  expected  to  gain.  The  President  would 
still  have  to  perform  his  own  duties,  and  we  to  perform  ours,  with- 
out reference  to  the  embarrasments  created  by  this  novel  mode  of 
reading  the  past  views  and  the  future  course  of  the  Chief  Magis- 
trate. In  the  mean  time,  what  better  plan  could  be  devised  to , 
excite  the  public  mind,  and  to  rouse  suspicions,  which  would  fly 
upon  the  wings  of  the  wind  to  the  furthest  verge  of  the  country? 
No  such  intentions  ever  entered  the  mind  of  the  honorable 
Senator ;  but  I  submit  to  him,  if,  in  its  very  nature,  this  pro- 
cess is  not  calculated  to  produce  such  a  result,  and  whether,  in 
fact,  it  has  not  produced  it.  And  yet,  it  seems  to  me,  that  the 
reasons  in  support  of  it  are  utterly  insufficient  to  justify  the  con- 
clusions. 

What  are  these  reasons  ?  I  will  just  touch  some  of  them,  hav- 
ing no  time  to  pursue  the  subject. 

There  were  two  acts  of  commission ;  one  was  the  offer  before 
made  of  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees  as  a  compromise;  and 
the  other  was  the  expression  of  Mr.  Buchanan  in  his  last  letter  to 
the  British  Minister,  dated  August  30th,  1845,  that  the  'Presi- 


5254  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

dent  hoped  the  controversy  would  be  terminated  without  a  collision. 

Now,  sir,  as  to  the  first.  I  trust  I  have  shown,  that  whatever 
course  the  President  may  pursue  respecting  the  parallel  of  forty- 
nine  degrees,  as  a  boundary  hereafter,  his  duty  will  be  before  him, 
unembarrassed  by  the  offer  heretofore  made,  and  that,  consequent- 
ly, that  circumstance  is  no  key  to  unlock  the  hidden  future. 

And  as  to  the  second.  I  will  ask  the  honorable  Senator  if,  upon 
reflection,  he  thinks  the  expression  of  the  President's  hope  is  really 
entitled  to  this  consideration. 

It  seems  to  me  partly  a  polite  and  courteous  phrase,  and  partly 
the  sincere  declaration  of  a  wish,  that  some  mode  might  be  devised 
for  an  amicable  adjustment  of  this  matter.  Let  us  not  deprive 
diplomatists  of  that  hope,  which  carries  us  all  forward  to  the  bright 
recompense  of  the  future.  But  let  us  not  convert  the  expression 
of  it  into  solid  promises,  nor  settled  convictions. 

And  what  are  the  acts  of  omission  1  One  is  the  neglect  to  re- 
commend defensive  measures,  and  the  other  is  a  want  of  confi- 
dence in  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations. 

And  now  for  the  first.  I  presume  ere  this  the  honorable  Sena- 
tor is  aware,  that  he  has  entirely  misunderstood  the  views  of  the 
President  upon  this  subject.  In  his  message,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  session,  the  President  recommended  that  a  force  of 
mounted  riflemen  should  be  raised,  and  also  an  augmentation  of 
the  naval  means  of  the  country.  But  later  in  the  session,  in  con- 
formity with  resolutions  which  originated  here,  recommendations 
and  estimates,  seen  and  approved  by  the  President,  and  his  in  fact, 
agreeably  to  the  constitution  of  our  Executive  department,  were 
sent,  by  the  Secretaries  of  the  War  and  of  the  Navy,  to  the  proper 
committees  of  the  Senate.  A  bill  was  reported  by  the  Naval  Com- 
mittee for  an  additional  steam  force,  and  was  ably  and  vigorously 
advocated  by  the  honorable  chairman  of  that  committe.  But  it 
was  put  to  sleep,  partly,  if  not  principally,  I  believe,  upon  the  ground 
that,  if  you  cannot  immediately  equip  a  navy,  therefore  you  must 
not  build  a  ship  ;  And  if  you  do  not  require  an  army,  therefore  you 
must  not  raise  a  regiment.  And  the  result  may  well  have  been 
taken  as  an  indication  both  by  the  Naval  and  Military  Commit- 
tees, that  the  Senate  did  not  deem  an  augmentation  of  the  defen- 
sive means  of  the  country  necessary  under  the  circumstances,  and 
therefore  prevented  all  further  action  on  their  part,  as  useless. 
For  I  consider  the  proposition  of  the  Naval  Committee,  thus  put 
to  sleep,  one  of  the  least  objectionable  of  all  the  measures  submit- 
ted to  us  under  the  sanction  of  the  President.  I  have  looked  over 
these  estimates,  sir,  both  from  the  War  and  Navy  Departments, 
and  I  consider  them  proper  and  judicious,  in  the  existing  state  of 
our  relations  with  England:  and  I  will  add,  the  heads  of  both  of 
those  departments  discharged  their  responsible  duties — for  their 
duties  were  responsible — in  a  satisfactory  manner. 

A  brief  recapitulation  may  not  be  unacceptable,  nor  unpro- 
fitable. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  255 

The  Secretary  of  War  recommended  the  immediate  passage  of  a 
bill  for  the  new  works. 

An  appropriation  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  fort- 
ification and  obstruction  of  channels;  and  also  for  field  works. 

An  appropriation  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  general 
contingencies  in  the  field,  including  the  preparation  of  a  pontoon 
equipage. 

An  estimate  of  the  sum  of  five  million  dollars,  as  necessary  for 
fortifications  and  obstructions,  to  be  appropriated  when  Congress 
might  think  the  aspect  of  affairs  threatened  hostilities,  and  then  to 
be  placed  at  the  disposition  of  the  President. 

The  estimate  for  ordnance  and  ordnance  stores  amounted  to 
four  million,  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine  thousand,  six  hundred 
and  eighty  dollars — of  course  to  be  appropriated  as  Congress 
might  deem  proper. 

An  addition  to  the  army  of  so  many  privates  as  would  raise  each 
company  to  one  hundred  men,  thus  adding  seven  thousand,  nine 
hundred  and  sixty  men  to  the  army. 

Authority  to  the  President  to  raise  fifty  thousand  volunteers, 
to  be  called  into  the  public  service  for  one  year,  whenever  re- 
quired. 

The  propositions  respecting  fortifications  and  ordnance  came 
from  the  proper  bureaus,  and  the  proposition  for  an  augmentation 
of  the  army  and  a  volunteer  force  came  from  the  commanding  gen- 
eral, whose  high  character  and  gallant  services  in  the  field,  justly 
give  great  weight  to  his  opinions  ;  and  those  propositions  were 
assumed  by  the  Secretary,  and  he  became  responsible  for  them. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  recommended  an  accumulation  of 
naval  materials  and  stores  to  the  amount  of  one  million  sixty  thou- 
sand dollars. 

For  the  repair  and  equipment  of  all  the  vessels  in  ordinary,  and 
of  the  frigates  of  the  United  States,  two  million  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  thousand  dollars. 

For  three  steam-frigates,  five  steam-sloops,  and  two  steamers,  of 
a  smaller  class,  three  million  three  hundred  and  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

Naval  ordnance  and  stores,  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
dollars. 

How  these  estimates  were  prepared  in  the  Navy  Department, 
the  document  in  my  possession  does  not  show.  I  presume  they 
went  through  the  proper  bureaus.  They  came  to  the  Senate,  as 
the  act  of  the  Secretary. 

It  is  obvious  that  all  these  appropriations,  in  any  contingency, 
would  not  be  wanted  for  some  time  ;  and,  indeed,  that  the  full  leg- 
islative action  upon  the  subject  would  await  the  developments 
growing  out  of  our  foreign  relations.  Ordinary  prudence  requires 
that  a  commencement  should  be  immediately  made  ;  to  what  ex- 
tent, Congress  must  judge.  But  it  will  be  remarked,  that  much 
the  larger  portion  of  these  estimates  is  for  materials  and  supplies, 


256  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

which  we  must  have  some  time  or  other,  and  ought  to  have  ere 
long,  let  the  aspect  of  our  foreign  affairs  be  as  it  may.    ' 

In  making  this  provision,  we  but  anticipate  our  necessities,  and 
the  worst  that  can  happen  will  be,  that  we  shall  sooner  be  prepared 
for  a  state  of  things,  for  which  we  ought  to  be  always  prepared. 

As  to  the  mode  of  receiving  this  information,  it  has  been-sanc- 
tioned  by  the  practice  of  the  government  for  years.  Congress  and 
its  committees  have  been  in  the  daily  habit  of  calling  upon  the 
heads  of  the  departments  for  the  necessary  facts  and  views  in  the 
discharge  of  their  legislative  duties.  And,  in  all  cases  like  the 
present,  the  reports  are  submitted  to  the  President  before  being 
sent  here,  and  thus  receive  his  sanction,  and  they  are  often  changed 
by  his  directions.  This  is  well  known  to  all  who  are  acquainted 
with  the  routine  of  our  executive  department. 

To  return  now,  sir,  to  this  act  of  omission,  this  neglect  to  re- 
commend proper  nleasures  of  defence,  by  which  the  President's 
views  are  to  be  interpreted,  as  I  understand,  in  this  manner.  The 
President  recommends  no  measures  of  defence.  Therefore  he  con- 
siders the  country  in  no  danger.  Therefore  he  intends  to  yield 
to  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees,  which  the  British  government 
intends  to  demand  ;  and  thus  there  will  be  no  war.  Now,  sir, 
more  than  two  months  before  this  position  was  taken  by  the  hon- 
orable Senator,  the  President  had  recommended,  by  his  Secreta- 
ries, an  addition  to  the  army  of  almost  eight  thousand  men,  the  or- 
ganization of  fifty  thousand  volunteers,  the  removal  of  the  limita- 
tions respecting  naval  establishments,  that  he  might  be  able  to  di- 
rect such  an  augmentation  of  the  seumen  of  the  navy  as  circum- 
stances may  require,  and  appropriations  for  military  purposes  to 
the  amount  of  nine  million  six  hundred  and  seventy-eight  thou- 
sand, six  hundred  and  eighty  dollars  ;  and  for  naval  purposes  to  the 
amount  of  six  million  five  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  dollars — 
making  in  the  whole  sixteen  million,  one  hundred  and  ninety-five 
thousand,  six  hundred  and  eighty  dollars,  in  addition  to  the  recom- 
mendations in  his  message  at  the  commencement  of  the  session, 
and  to  the  ordinary  estimates  of  the  department. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  this  topic.  Whatever  may  be  the 
just  construction  of  the  President's  meaning,  which  to  me  is  ex- 
ceedingly clear,  it  is  now  obvious  that  this  act  of  omission  becomes 
an  act  of  commission,  and  proves  that  the  President  is  by  no  means 
tranquil  respecting  the  condition  of  the  country. 

As  to  the  alleged  want  of  Executive  confidence  in  the  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  I  hardly  know  how  to 
speak  of  it  becomingly,  when  urged  in  this  connexion.  Were  the 
fact  so,  it  would  seem  very  strange  to  me,  and  I  should  think  the 
President  very  badly  advised,  to  withhold  a  proper  confidence  from 
one  of  his  truest  and  most  efficient  friends  upon  this  floor,  and  one, 
too,  who,  from  his  position  at  the  head  of  a  most  important  com- 
mittee, was  officially  entitled  to  it. 

No  one,  who  has  witnessed  the  energy,  the  talent,  and  the  prompt- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  257 

itude  of  the  honorable  chairman,  can  doubt  the  service  he  has  ren- 
dered this  Administration,  nor  the  confidence  he  deserves — a  con- 
fidence, indeed,  demanded  more  for  the  sake  of  the  public  interest, 
than  for  his  own  sake. 

But,  sir,  I  have  reason  to  know  that  the  Senator  from  North 
Carolina  is  in  error  in  all  this ;  that  this  deduction  from  extrinsic 
circumstances  is  but  another  proof,  that  truth  is  aot  always  attained 
when  sought  by  indirect  and  remote  facts.  I  have  reason  to'know 
that  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  com- 
municates freely  with  the  President,  and  enjoys  his  confidence. 

And  what  proof  of  estrangement  between  these  high  functiona- 
ries is  furnished  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  North  Carolina? 
Why,  thus  stands  the  case  :  The  honorable  chairman  stated  that 
the  records,  and  the  records  alone,  were  the  sources  of  his  inform- 
ation. 

It  seems  to  me  it  would  better  become  our  position  if  we  all 
sought  the  views  of  the  President,  so  far  as  we  ought  to  seek  them, 
in  the  same  authentic  documents.  It  would  save  a'world  of  un- 
profitable conjecture.  Now,  sir,  what  does  all  this  amount  to? 
Why,  to  this  :  the  President  told  the  Senator  from  Ohio  no  more, 
as  to  his  future  course,  than  he  told  the  country  and  Congress  in 
his  message.  It  would  be  strange  if  he  had.  The  avowal  of  a  line 
of  policy,  when  the  proper  circumstances  are  before  him,  is  the 
duty  of  a  sound  and  practical  statesman.  But  I  should  much  doubt 
the  wisdom  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  a  great  country,  who  should 
sit  down  to  speculate  upon  future  and  remote  contingencies,  affect- 
ing the  public  welfare,  with  a  view  even  to  the  decision  upon 
his  own  course,  and  still  less  with  a  view  to  its  annunciation  to 
the  world. 

Let  me,  then,  ask  the  Senator,  if  he  thinks  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  to  put  gratuitous 
questions  to  the  President,  in  order  that  he  may  be  able  to  come 
here  and  declare  what  the  Executive  will  do  in  such  a  contingen- 
cy, which  may  never  happen;  or  which,  if  it  do  happen,  may  bring 
with  it  circumstances,  that  may  change  the  whole  aspect  of  the 
question?  But  1  forbear,  sir.  I  consider  k unnecessary  to  pursue 
this  question  further. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  argument  of  the  Senator  from 
North  Carolina  was  devoted  to  prove  that  the  message  of  the  Pres- 
ident did  not  justify  these  anticipations  of  war,  which  it  appears 
to  myself  and  to  other  Senators  to  do.  Not  that  he  called  in  ques- 
tion the  natural  tendency  of  the  measures  recommended  by  the 
President,  nor  the  fair  construction  of  his  language ;  but  he  con- 
trolled these  by  the  extrinsic  facts  to  which  I  have  adverted.  I 
shall  say  nothing  more  upon  this  subject,  hut  I  shall  fortify  my  own 
opinion  by  the  views  of  other  members  of  this  body,  who  are  en- 
titled to  more  weight  than  I  am. 

The  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina  said  "{hat  the  re- 
commendation in  the  message  is  founded  upon  the  conviction,  that 

17 


268  I  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CAS3. 

there  is  no  hope  of  compromise  of  the  difficulties  growing  out  of 
the  President's  message  is  too  clear  to  admit  of  any  doubt." 

After  some  further  remarks,  showing  the  opinions  entertained 
of  the  dangers  of  war,  he  adds  :  "Entertaining  these  opinions,  we 
were  compelled  to  oppose  notice,  because  it  was  necessary  to  pre- 
vent an  appeal  to  arms,  and  insure  the  peaceful  settlement  of  the 
question." 

And  the  Senator  from  Maryland  said  :  "  We  have  all  felt,  Mr. 
President,  that  at  one  time  at  least — I  trust  that  time  is  past — the 
nation  was  in  imminent  danger.  From  the  moment  that  the  Pre- 
sident of  the  United  States  deemed  it  right  and  becoming,  in  the 
very  outset  of  his  official  career,  to  announce  to  the  world  that  the 
title  to  the  north-west  territory  was  clear  and  indisputable,  down 
to  his  message  in  December  last,  I  could  not  set.  how  war  was  to 
be  averted." 

And  the  honorable  Senator  from  Louisiana,  in  his  speech  yes- 
terday, advanced  the  same  opinion  upon  this  subject. 

And  the  Senator  from  Georgia  also  expressed  the  conviction 
that  "this  resolution,  based  as  it  is  on  the  President's  message,  is 
a  distinct  intimation  to  Great  Britain  that  this  matter  must  be  set- 
tled, and  in  a  manner  acceptable  to  us,  or  that  at  the  expiration 
of  that  time  we  will  take  forcible  possession  of  the  whole  country," 
which  of  course  means  war. 

And  he  adds  that  '•  the  Senator  from  North  Carolina  tells  us, 
that  the  President  is  waiting  at  the  open  door  of  his  cabinet,  ready 
to  adjust  this  controversy,  and  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  coun- 
try." "Sir,"  he  adds,  "even  with  the  aid  of  the  Senator's  optics, 
I  cannot  see  him  there."  And  he  adds,  also,  if  these  things  were 
so,  referring  to  the  views  of  the  Senator  from  North  Carolina  re- 
specting the  President's  message,  "I  should  be  sorry  to  do  so." 
And  I  fully  concur  with  him  in  the  sentiment. 

Now,  sir,  I  shall  not  thrust  myself  into  this  dispute — 

••  Non  nostrum  inter  vos  tantas  componere  lites." 

During  the  progress  of  this  discussion,  the  blessings  of  peace 
and  the  horrors  of  war  have  been  frequently  presented  to  us  with 
the  force  of  truth,  and  sometimes  with  the  fervency  of  an  excited 
imagination.  I  have  listened  attentively  to  all  this,  though  much 
of  it  1  remember  to  have  heard  thirty-five  years  ago.  But  I  beg 
honorable  Senators  to  recollect,  that  upon  this  side  of  the  chamber 
we  have  interests,  and  families,  and  homes,  and  a  country,  as  well 
as  they  have  ;  and  that  we  are  as  little  disposed  to  bring  war  upon 
our  native  land,  unnecessary,  as  they  can  be.  That  some  of  us 
know  by  experience,  all  of  us  by  reading  and  reflection,  the  cala- 
mities, moral  and  physical,  that  war  brings  in  its  train.  And  we 
appreciate  the  blessings  of  peace  with  a  conviction  as  deep  and  as 
steadfast.  And  no  one  desires  its  continuance  more  earnestly 
than  I  do.  But  all  this  leaves  untouched  the  only  real  subject  of 
inquiry.  That  is  not  whether  peace  is  a  blessing  and  war  a  curse 
but  whether  peace  can  be  preserved,  and  war  avoided,  consistently 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  259 

with  the  honor  and  interest  of  the  country.     That  question  may 
come  up  for  solution  ;  and  if  it  does,  it  must  be  met  by  each  one 
of  us,  with  a  full  sense  of  its  abiding  importance,  and  of  his  own 
responsibility.     I  suppose  there  is  not  a  gentleman  in  this  body, 
who  will  not  say,  that  cases  may  occur,  even  in  this  stage  of  the 
world,  which  may  drive  this  country  to  the  extreme  remedy  of  war, 
rather  than  she  should  submit  to  arrogant  and  unreasonable  de- 
mands, or  to  direct  attacks  upon  our  rights  and  independence — 
like  impressment,  or  the  search  of  our  ships,  or  various  other  acts 
by  which  power  is  procured  and  maintained  over  the  timid  and  the 
weak.     The  true  practical  question  for  a  nation  is  not  the  cost  of 
war,  whether  measured  by  dollars,  or  by  dangers,  or  by  disasters, 
but  whether  war  can  be  honorably  avoided ;  and  that  question 
each  person  having  the  power  of  determination  must  determine  for 
himself,  when  the  case  is  presented.     Good  men  may  indulge  in 
day-dreams  upon  this  subject,  but  he  who  looks  upon  the  world 
as  it  has  been,  as  it  is,  and  as  it  is  likely  to  be,  must  see  that  the 
moral  constitution  of  man  has  undergone  little  change  ;  and  that 
interests  and  passions  operate  not  less  upon  communities,  than 
they  did  when  the  law  of  public  might  was  the  law  of  public  right, 
more  openly  avowed  than  now.     Certainly  a  healthful  public  opin- 
ion exerts  a  stronger  influence  over  the  world,  than  at  any  former 
period  of  its  history.     Governments  are  more  or  less  restrained  by 
it,  and  all  feel  the  effects  of  it.     Mistresses,  and  favorites,  and  min- 
ions, no  longer  drive  nations  to  war,  nor  are  mere  questions  of 
etiquette  among  the  avowed  causes  of  hostilities.     It  is  not  proba- 
ble, that  a  people  will  ever   be  again  overcome,  because  a  states- 
man may  consult  his  vanity  rather  than   his  taste  in  the  choice  of 
his  pictures,  nor  that  the  state  of  Europe  will  be  changed  because 
a  lady's  silk  gown  may  be  spoiled  by  a  cup  of  tea.     Humanity  has 
gained  something — let  us  hope  it  will  gain  more.     Questions  of 
war  are  passing  from  cabinets  to  the  people.     If  they  are  discussed 
in  secret,  they  are  also  discussed  before  the  world,  for  there  is  not 
a  government  in  Christendom,  which  would  dare  to  rush  into  war, 
without  first  consulting  the  public  mind. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  in  England,  and  not  a  little  in  the1 
United  States,  respecting  our  grasping  propensity  in  demanding 
the  whole  of  Oregon  ;  and  we  have  been  solemnly  admonished  of 
the  awful  responsibility  of  involving  two  great  nations  in  war.  The 
subject  in  dispute  is  said  not  to  be  worth  the  perils  a  conflict  would 
bring  with  it ;  and  the  honorable  Senator  from  Maine  has  exhibi- 
ted to  us,  as  in  balance,  the  disasters  of  war,  and  the  value  of  the 
matter  in  controversy,  and  has  made  our  territorial  claims  to  kick 
the  beam.  Permit  me  to  turn  to  the  other  side  of  this  picture.  I 
acknowledge  the  moral  obligation  of  Government  to  avoid  war, 
where  higher  obligations  do  not  drive  them  to  it.  I  will  not  call 
England  the  Pharisee  of  nations,  but  I  will  say  that  she  does  not 
hide  the  light  of  her  own  good  deeds  under  a  bushel.  The  ocean 
scarcely  beats  upon  a  shore  within  sight  of  which  her  flag  is  not 


260  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

seen,  and  within  sound  of  which  her  drum  is  not  heard.  And  yet 
moderation  is  proclaimed,  and  often  with  the  sound  of  her  cannon, 
from  one  end  of  the  civilized  world  to  the  other.  She  is  not  like 
other  nations,  and  least  of  all,  like  that  great  grasping  mobocracy 
of  the  West  "  I  thank  God,"  said  the  Pharisee  of  old,  "  thatl 
am  not  as  other  men  are."  Now  the  chapter  of  accidents  has  turn- 
ed up  favorably  for  England,  if  she  will  accept  the  opportunity  af- 
forded her.  No  man  in  this  country  wants  war — ultraists  no  more 
than  aompromists,  if  I  may  use  terms  justified  by  the  occasion. 
The  extreme  partisan  of  decisive  measures  asks  nothing  but  the 
whole  of  Oregon.  Give  him  that,  and  he  will  become  as  meek  as 
the  latest  professor  of  humility,  who  writes  homilies  upon  national 
moderation  for  the  London  Times.  Now,  sir,  let  England  aban- 
don her  pretensions,  and  all  these  disasters,  the  consequences  of 
war,  which  are  foretold — and  I  do  not  doubt  many  of  them  justly 
foretold — will  give  way,  and  exist  only  in  the  memory  of  this  de- 
bate. There  is  no  condition  of  things,  foreseen  by  any  man,  pub- 
lic or  private,  in  this  country,  which  can  give  to  England  a  better 
line,  than  49°.  The  country  north  of  that  line  is  therefore  all  she 
could  gain  by  a  contest,  which  is  to  involve  the  fearful  consequen- 
ces predicted  to  both  countries ;  which  during  its  progress,  it  is 
said,  will  bring  nation  after  nation  within  the  sphere  of  its  opera- 
tion, and  which  is  finally  to  commit  to  the  decision  of  the  sword 
the  great  question  of  free  government  through  the  world,  by  placing 
in  its  path  the  antagonistic  principle,  that  the  many  should  be  gov- 
erned by  the  few.  What,  then,  would  England  surrender  to  pre- 
serve the  peace  of  the  world,  and  thus  give  the  first  practical  proof 
of  moderation  to  be  found  in  the  long  annals  of  her  history  ?  I 
agree  fully  with  the  honorable  Senator  from  Missouri,  [Mr.  AT- 
CHISON,]  that  if  England  would  acknowledge  our  rights,  and  with- 
draw her  opposition  to  them,  and  should  then  ask  a  better  access 
to  the  ocean  for  her  interior  territories,  I  would  grant  it  without 
hesitation,  as  a  favor,  upon  the  most  reasonable  consideration.  If 
this  should  be  done,  she  would  have  left  about  three  hundred  miles 
•of  coast  to  fight  for  ;  and  I  will  return  the  question  of  the  gentle- 
man from  Maine,  and  ask  if  this  strip  of  land  is  worth  the  price 
of  such  a  contest?  England  is  already  gorged  with  possessions, 
both  continental  and  insular,  overrun,  almost  overloaded  with  sub- 
jects of  all  castes,  colors,  and  condition.  At  this  very  moment, 
she  is  waging  two  wars  of  aggrandizement — one  for  commercial 
projects  upon  the  La  Plata,  and  the  other  for  a  new  empire  upon 
the  Indus.  The  latest  Morning  Chronicle  I  have  seen,  one  of  last 
month — and  that  paper  is  the  Whig  organ  of  England — says,  and 
the  proposition  is  enunciated  with  characteristic  coolness,  and 
with  as  much  apparent  candor,  as  if  it  were  extracted  from  the  la- 
test treatise  upon  public  morals,  "  we  can  never  govern  India  so 
•axil  as  we  might,  until  we  possess  the  whole  of  it."  A  congenial 
sentiment  is  quite  as  much  at  home  in  every  English  breast,  that 
America  would  be  much  better  governed  than  it  is,  if  England 
possessed  the  whole  of  it. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  2GI 

Let  the  British  Government  now  say,  two  wars  at  the  same  time 
are  enough  for  the  purpose  of  aggrandizement.  We  will  not  en- 
counter a  third — we  will  give  up  this  doubtful  and  disputed  claim, 
and  hold  on  in  America  to  what  we  have  got — we  will  do  so  much 
for  peace.  Let  her  do  this,  and  I,  for  one,  will  say,  well  done. 
You  begin  to  practice,  though  upon  a  small  scale,  as  you  preach. 
And  why  not  do  so  ?  This  territory  is  separated  by  an  ocean  and 
a  continent  from  England.  She  cannot  long  hold  it,  if  she  should 
gain  it.  I  mean  long,  compared  with  the  life  of  nations  ;  whereas 
it  joins  us,  intervenes  between  us  and  our  communication  with  the 
Pacific,  will  form  an  integral — I  do  not  doubt  a  perpetual — por- 
tion of  our  confederacy,  will  be,  in  time,  a  necessary  outlet  for  our 
population,  and  presents  all  those  elements  of  contiguity  and  of 
position,  which  indicate  and  invite  political  unions. 

But  it  has  been  said  and  resaid,  in  the  Senate  and  out  of  it,  that 
two  great  nations  cannot  go  to  war.  And  why  cannot  two  great 
nations  go  to  war  against  one  another,  as  well  as  two  great  nations 
combined  against  one  another,  as  well  as  two  great  nations  com- 
bined against  a  small  one  ?  So  far  as  honor  contemns  a  disparity 
of  force,  the  former  would  be  much  more  honorable  than  the  latter. 

What  is  going  on  in  the  La  Plata,  where  France  and  England 
have  sent  their  united  fleets  and  armies  against  the  Argentine  Re- 
public, and  where  the  echoes  of  their  cannon  are  ascending  the 
Parana  and  its  vast  tributaries,  till  they  are  lost  in  the  gorges  of 
the  Andes  ? 

There  can  be  no  war  in  this  enlightened  age  of  the  world ! 
What,  then,  is  passing  in  Africa,  where  one  hundred  thousand 
Christian  bayonets  have  driven  the  Arab  from  his  home,  and  are 
pursuing  -him  into  the  desert,  the  refuge  of  the  turban  since  the 
days  of  the  patriarchs? 

What  is  passing  upon  the  shores  of  the  Euxine,  where  the  Cos- 
sack has  left  his  native  plains,  and,  at  the  call  of  Russia,  is  ascend- 
ing the  ridges  of  the  Caucasus  to  subdue  its  indigenous  races,  and, 
to  substitute  the  mild  rule  of  the  Muscovite  for  their  own  patriarch- 
al form  of  government — dependence  upon  the  Czar  for  dependence 
upon  themselves  ? 

And  what  is  passing  in  the  Punjaub,  where  the  last  advices  left 
two  mighty  armies  almost  within  sight  of  each  other,  after  having 
fought  a  great  battle  of  Hindoo  ambition  against  English  modera- 
tion 1 

And  how  long  since  an  enlightened  Government,  -par  excellence, 
broke  the  barrier  of  Chinese  power,  which  has  so  long  insulted  a 
vast  empire,  and  scattered  dismay  and  death  along  its  coasts,  be- 
cause its  rulers  had  interdicted  the  sale  of  opium,  a  drug  equally 
destructive  to  the  moral  faculties  and  to  the  physical  powers  of 
man?  The  Tartar  passed  the  great  wall,  and  planted  his  horse 
tails  upon  the  towers  of  Pekin.  He  then  became  a  Chinese,  and 
the  empire  went  on  as  before.  But  the  Englishman,  with  his  can- 
non balls  and  his  opium,  has  introduced  an  innovation  into  the 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

habits  and  condition  of  one-third  part  of  the  human  race,  which 
may  fatally  affect  its  future  prosperity. 

And  how  long  is  it  since  an  English  army  passed  the  gates  of 
Asia,  and,  ascending  the  table-land  of  that  continent,  if  it  had  not 
been  annihilated  by  a  series  of  disasters,  which  have  few  parallels 
in  modern  warfare,  might  have  reversed  the  march  of  Alexander, 
and  reached  the  Mediterranean  by  Nineveh,  and  Babylon,  and  Je- 
rusalem ? 

And  only  five  short  years  have  elapsed  since  Christian  cannon 
were  heard  in  the  mountains  of  Lebanon,  and  their  bombs  explo- 
ded among  the  broken  monuments  of  Sidon. 

In  this  brief  view  and  review  of  pending  and  recent  wars,  I  do 
not  advert  to  the  hostilities  going  on  among  some  of  the  States  of 
Spanish  origin  upon  this  continent,  in  Hayti,  in  Southern  Africa, 
upon  the  frontiers  of  the  colony  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in  Ma- 
dagascar, and  in  various  islands  of  the  Eastern  ocean,  because 
these  are  small  wars,  and  some  of  them  are  waged  by  civilized  na- 
tions agayist  barbarous  tribes,  and_  hardly  worthy  of  attention  in 
these  days  of  philanthropy — of  that  philanthropy  which  neglects 
objects  of  misery  at  home,  whether  in  England  or  Ireland,  the  re- 
lief of  which  would  be  silent  and  unobtrusive,  and  seeks  them 
everywhere  else  through  the  world,  that  they  may  be  talked  of  and 
exhibited  as  proofs  of  benevolence — which,  as  an  eminent  French 
writer  says,  overlooks  the  wants  of  our  neighbors,  but  goes  to  the 
north  pole  upon  a  crusade  of  charity  !  which  has  an  innate  horror 
at  the  very  idea  of  black  slavery,  but  looks  calmly  and  philosophi- 
cally, and  with  no  bowels  of  compassion,  nor  compunction  of  re- 
morse upon  white  slavery  and  brown  slavery,  amounting  to  millions 
upon  millions  in  Russia,  and  in  the  English  possessions  in  India 
and  elsewhere,  because,  forsooth,  this  servitude  is  not  the  United 
States,  and  neither  cotton  nor  sugar  will  be  affpcted  by  it. 

These,  and  the  Belgian  war,  and  the  Spanish  war,  and  the  Greek 
war,  are  events  of  but  yesterday,  yet,  sounding  in  our  ears,  and 
dwelling  upon  our  tongues.  And  I  might  goon  with  these  proofs 
and  illustrations  of  pugnacious  disposition  of  the  world,  till  your 
patience  and  mine  were  exhausted. 

Why,  sir,  if  England  had  a  temple  of  Janus,  as  Rome  had  of  old, 
it  would  be  as  seldom  shut,  as  was  that  of  her  imperial  prototype. 
The  first  fifteen  years  of  this  very  century  were  nearly  all  passed 
in  the  greatest  war  known  perhaps  in  the  annals'  of  mankind  ;  and 
there  are  Senators  in  this  body,  and  I  among  the  number,  who 
were  born  at  the  close  of  one  war  with  England,  and  have  lived 
through  another,  and  who  are  perhaps  destined  to  witness  a  third. 
And  yet  zealous  but-ill-judging  men  would  try  to  induce  us  to  cast 
by  our  armor,  and  lay  open  our  country,  because,  forsooth,  the 
age  is  too  enlightened  to  tolerate  war.  I  am  atraid  we  are  not  as 
good  as  these  peace  men,  at  all  sacrifices,  persuade  themselves  and 
attempt  to  persuade  others. 

But,  sir,  to  advert  to  another  topic.     I  perceive — and  I  am  hap- 


LIFE    OE    GENERAL    CASS.  263 

.  * 

py  to  find  it  so — that  there  has  been  a  nearer  union  of  sentiment 
on  one  branch  of  this  subject  between  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Maryland  and  myself  than  I  had  supposed.  All  I  regret  is,  that 
he  had  not  avowed  his  opinion  earlier  in  the  session  ;  for  I  should 
have  felt  myself  greatly  encouraged  in  my  course  by  the  identity 
of  our  views  respecting  the  danger  of  the  country.  The  honora- 
ble gentleman  says :  "  We  all  have  felt  at  one  time,  at  least — I 
trust  that  that  time  has  passed — the  nation  was  in  imminent  dan- 
ger of  war."  "  From  the  moment  the  President  of  the  United 
States  deemed  it  right  and  becoming,  in  the  very  outset  of  his 
official  career,  to  announce  to  the  world,  that  the  title  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  to  the  northwest  territory  was  clear  and  indisputable, 
down  to  the  period  of  his  Message  in  December,  when  he  reite- 
rated the  assertion,  I  could  not  see  how  it  was  possible  war  was 
to  be  averted."  "  I  could  not  but  listen  with  dismay  and  alarm 
at  what  fell  from  the  distinguished  Senator  from  Michigan  at  an 
early  period  of  this  session." 

Now,  sir,  I  have  not  the  slightest  wish  to  misinterpret  the  sen- 
timents of  the  Senator  from  Maryland;  but  I  frankly  confess  I  do 
not  understand  how,  with  the  opinion  he  'expresses,  that  war  was 
unavoidable,  any  remarks  of  mine  could  have  been  thus  character- 
ized. I  am  well  aware,  indeed,  that  they  came  like  a  bomb-shell 
into  a  powder  magazine.  But  why,  I  have  not  yet  to  learn.  Like 
the  honorable  Senator  from  Maryland,  the  moment  I  read  the  Pre- 
sident's Message,  I  saw,  to  my  own  conviction  at  least,  that  our 
duty,  as  representatives  and  sentinels  of  the  people,  required  us  to 
take  measures  of  precaution,  proportioned  to  the  danger,  whatever 
that  might  be.  The  President,  with  a  due  regard  to  his  own  res- 
ponsibility, as  well  as  to  the  just  expectation  cf  his  countrymen, 
spread  before  us,  not  only  his  own  views  and  recommendations, 
but  the  whole  diplomatic  correspondence,  which  had  passed  be- 
tween the  two  Governments,  on  the  subject  of  Oregon.  Well,  we 
all  saw  there  was  a 'dead  halt  in  the  march  of  the  negotiations. 
The  President  told  us,  in  effect,  they  were  closed.  I  am  not,  sir, 
very  tenacious  as  to  the  word.  I  do  not  attach  that  importance, 
in  fact,  to  the  condition  itself,  which  the  Senator  from  North  Ca- 
rolina appears  to  do.  I  am  willing  to  call  it  closed,  or  terminated 
or  suspended,  or  in  the  Executive  phrase,  '•  dropped."  All  I  wish 
to  show  is,  that  nothing  was  going  on.  Why  the  honorable  Sena- 
tor from  North  Carolina  dwelt  with  such  earnestness  upon  this 
point,  I  do  not  comprehend,  unless,  indeed,  he  supposed,  that  if 
the  negotiations  were  closed,  they  were  closed  forever,  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  parties.  If  such  were  his  views,  I  do  not  partake 
them.  J  trust  no  question  of  mere  etiquette  will  keep  the  parties 
separated,  if  other  circumstances  should  indicate  they  might  be 
brought  together.  Such  a  course  of  action,  or  rather  of  inaction, 
would  deserve  the  reprobation  of  the  whole  world.  But  however 
this  may  be,  the  President  said,  that  all  attempts  at  compromise 
had  failed.  These  are  his  words.  He  invited  us  to  give  the  no- 


264  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

tice,  for  the  termination  of  the  joint  occupation  of  the  country. 
He  said  it  was  all  ours,  and  that  our  title  to  it  was  maintained  by- 
irrefragable  facts  and  arguments ;  and  he  said,  also,  that  at  the 
end  of  the  year,  the  temporary  measures,  which  a  regard  to  treaty 
stipulations  allowed  us  only  to  adopt  at  this  time,  must  be  aban- 
doned, and  our  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  country  established 
and  maintained.  Such  were,  in  effect,  the  views  submitted  to  us 
by  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation,  in  the  discharge  of  a  sol- 
emn duty,  committed  to  him  by  the  Constitution. 

One  would  think  there  were  elements  enough  of  trouble  to  en- 
gage the  attention  of  the  National  Legislature,  and  to  command 
its  immediate  action.  If  the  ship  of  State  were  to  be  steered  by 
the  chart  thus  prepared  by  the  pilot,  either  Great  Britain  must 
turn  from  her  course,  or  we  must  meet  her.  There  was  no  other 
alternative.  She  must  gainsay  much  she  had  said.  She  must  re- 
linquish much  she  had  claimed.  She  must  concede  much  she  had 
denied.  She  must  do  what  a  proud  nation  does  with  reluctance — 
retrace  her  steps  in  the  face  of  the  world,  and  lower  herself  in  her 
own  estimation.  I  did  not  say  she  would  not  do  all  this.  I  do 
not  say  so  now.  But  looking  to  her  history,  to  her  position,  and 
to  the  motives  of  human  conduct — as  these  operate  upon  commu- 
nities, as  well  as  upon  individuals — I  had  great  difficulty  in  believ- 
ing that  she  would  do  it,  and  I  said  so.  And  there  was  yet  anoth- 
er element  of  uncertainty,  combined  with  all  these  causes  of  em- 
barrassment, and  that  was  the  doubt,  if  she  came  to  the  parallel  of 
49°,  whether  she  would  find  our  Government  ready  to  come  back 
to  the  same  line.  I  know  nothing  of  tfie  intentions  of  either  Gov- 
ernment upon  that  subject.  I  cannot  speak  authoritatively,  and 
therefore  I  do  not  undertake  to  speak  at  all.  I  know  as  little  as 
any  one  in  this  room,  be  he  actor  or  spectator  in  the  scene  that  is 
passing.  Whether  the  offer  would  be  accepted,  if  repeated,  or 
whether  it  would  be  repeated,  if  demanded.  All  I  know  is,  that  as 
the  basis  of  an  amicable  adjustment,  that  time,  which  while  it  mends 
some  things  mars  others,  is  every  day  increasing  the  difficulty  of 
its  establishment ;  and  that,  as  a  means  of  terminating  this  contro- 
versy, I  believe  the  question  is  rapidly  passing  from  the  control  of 
the  Government  to  the  control  of  public  opinion. 

Under  these  circumstances,  I  introduced  resolutions  of  inquiry 
into  the  necessity  of  adopting  measures  for  the-defence  of  the  coun- 
try, and,  on  the  loth  of  December,  I  advocated  their  adoption  and 
explained  my  views,  of  which  I  have  now  troubled  the  Senate  with 
a  brief  summary,  and  to  which  the  honorable  Senator  says  he  list- 
ened with  "  dismay  and  alarm."  "  Dismay  and  alarm"  at  propo- 
sitions for  defence,  when  the  gentleman  himself  says  that  "  the 
nation  was  in  imminent  danger."  !  When  "  he  could  not  see  how 
it  was  possible  war  was  to  be  avoided  !"  For  it  will  be  observed, 
they  were  subsequent  by  some  weeks,  which  removed  this  impres- 
sion of  the  danger  of  war  made  by  the  President's  Inaugural  Ad- 
dress, and  by  his  Message  at  the  commencement  of  the  session. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  265 

They  were  the  speeches  of  the  Senators  from  Missouri  and  New 
York,  and  especially  the  speech  recently  delivered  by  the  Senator 
from  North  Carolina.  For  myself  I  did  not  hear  one  word  fall 
from  the  Senators  from  Missouri  and  New  York,  so  far  as  I  re- 
collect, in  which  I  did  not  fully  concur.  The  former,  besides  the 
authority  which  long  experience,  high  talents,  and  great  services 
to  his  country  and  his  party,  give  to  all  he  says,  here  and  elsewhere, 
understands  this  whole  subject  better  perhaps  than  any  man  in  the 
nation.  And  we  all  have  borne  our  tribute  of  gratification  to  the 
able  and  statesmanlike  exposition  of  the  matter  given  by  the  Se- 
nator from  New  York.  I  did  not  understand  either  of  these  Se- 
nators, as  alluding  to  the  ulterior  course  of  the  President,  or  seek- 
ing to  express  any  opinion  respecting  the  result  of  this  controver- 
sy. And  I  will  ask  the  Senator  from  Maryland  whether,  upon  a 
grave  question  like  this,  it  is  not  safer  and  wiser  to  deduce  the  views 
of  the  President  from  two  public  and  solemn  documents,  spread- 
ing before  his  country,  his  opinions  and  fore-shadowing  his  course, 
rather  than  from  the  construction  given  them  by  others,  and  rest- 
ing upon  what  is  called  acts  of  omission  and  of  commission. 

It  is  not  a  little  curious,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  during 
the  discussions  brought  out  by  my  resolutions,  gentlemen  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Senate  took  the  opportunity  of  expressing  their 
entire  concurrence  in  the  views  and  course  of  the  President,  and 
avowed  their  gratification  at  the  Executive  statements  and  recom- 
mendations. Though  a  condensed  narrative  of  the  negotiations 
accompanied  the  Message  and  formed  the  groundwork  of  the  sug- 
gestions submitted  to  us,  and  though  the  correspondence  was 
spread  out  in  full  before  us.  What  is  now  thought  upon  this  sub- 
ject on  the  other  side  of  the  chamber,  it  needs  not  that  I  should 
tell.  The  views  there  expressed  are  as  unequivocal  as  they  are 
condemnatory.  "  We  all  have  felt,"  says  the  Senator  from  Ma- 
ryland, "  that  war  was  imminent,"  and  still  more  emphatically, 
"  I  could.not  see  how  it  was  possible  war  was  to  be  averted." 

But  I  may  be  permitted  to  ask  the  honorable  Senator,  if  war,  in 
his  opinion,  was  thus  imminent,  and  not  to  be  averted,  how  happen- 
ed it  that  my  remarks  "  filled  him  with  alarm  and  dismay  ?"  I 
thought  there  was  danger  of  war,  and  so  it  appears  did  he.  And 
his  estimate  of  the  danger  was  higher  than  mine  ;  for  I  thought  that 
among  other  means  of  avoiding  it,  instant  and  adequate  prepara- 
tions might  exhibit  such  powers  of  offence  and  defence,  and  such 
a  spirit  in  the  country,  that  England  might  pause  before  she  would 
drive  us  to  the  last  alternative  of  injured  nations.  And  therefore 
.was  I  so  anxious  for  an  immediate  and  decisive  manifestation  upon 
this  subject.  But  we  have  all  suffered  these  resolutions  to  sleep, 
as  I  remarked  the  other  day,  if  not  the  sleep  of  death,  a  slumber  al- 
most as  quiet ;  and  though  they  were  a  little  startled  by  the  Pre- 
sident's Message,  still,  before  their  full  resucitation  into  life,  it  may 
be  necessary,  that  that  same  solemn  warning  should  penetrate 
these  marble  Halls,  which  has  said  to  other  improvident  nations, 


266  LIFE    QF    GENERAL    CASS. 

awake  !  the  enemy  is  upon  you.  If,  then,  both  the  Senator  and 
myself  were  apprehensive  of  war,  and  he  thought  it  could  not  be 
averted,  the  "  dismay  and  alarm"  which  my  remarks  occasioned, 
did  not  result  from  any  difference  of  views  upon  that  subject.  And, 
as  these  remarks  had  but  two  objects — one  to  show  the  danger  we 
were  in,  and  the  other  to  guard  against  it-»-it  would  seem  to  be  the 
latter  at  which  the  honorable  Senator  took  exception  ;  and  it  is  cer- 
tainly a  cause  of  mortification,  that  I  managed  my  subject  so  awk- 
wardly, as  to  convert  my  propositions  for  defence  into  a  matter  for 
"  alarm  and  dismay." 

Since,  then,  however,  sir,  another  note  of  warning  has  reached 
us  from  the  eastern  hemisphere,  and  we  not  only  know  that  Eng- 
land is  arming,  but  the  sovereign  herself  has  announced  the  fact 
in  the  most  imposing  manner,  and  has  called  upon  Parliament  to 
extend  these  armaments  still  further.  And  we  now  exhibit  to  the 
world  the  extraordinary  spectacle  of  a  nation  in  a  state  of  perfect 
tranquility — I  might  rather  say  of  apathy,  almost — without  an  ar- 
my, without  a  militia — for  our  militia  is  unfortunately  nearly  disor- 
ganized— with  unfinished  and  insufficient  defences,  with  an  inade 
quate  supply  of  the  materiel  of  war,  with  a  navy  calculated  only 
for  a  state  of  peace,  with  three  thousand  six  hundred  miles  of  sea- 
coast  on  the  Atlantic,  and  one  tnousand  three  hundred  miles  on 
the  Pacific,  and  four  thousand  one  hundred  miles  of  interior  fron- 
tier from  Eastport  to  ,the  line  where  54°  40  strikes  the  ocean,  and 
two  thousand  four  hundred  miles  of  interior  frontier  from  the  south- 
western corner  of  Oregon  to  the  Rio  del  Norte — making  a  boun- 
dary of  eleven  thousand  four  hundred  miles,  agreeably  to  the  cal- 
culation I  have  procured  from  the  librarian,  and  penetrable  in  all 
directions.  While,  at  the  same  time,  we  are  involved  in  a  great 
controversy  with  the  most  formidable  nation — -formidable  in  the 
means  of  injuring  us — upon  the  face  of  the  globe,  which  is  buck- 
ling on  its  armor,  and  telling  the  world,  through  its  sovereign,  that 
it  will  maintain  its  interests  and  honor — which,  being  translated 
into  plain  American,  means  that  it  will  hold  on  to  its  claims. 

Mr.  President,  a  great  deal  has  been  said,  both  here  and  else- 
where, respecting  the  probability  of  wnr — whether  it  will  result 
from  the  present  condition  of  the  two  nations.  Some  gentlemen 
think  this  is  a  legitimate  subject  of  inquiry,  arising  out  of  the  prin- 
cipal question — that  of  the  notice — directly  before  us  ;  while  others 
think  we  should  decide  the  question  on  its  own  merits,  leaving  out 
of  view  the  consequences,  to  which  it  may  lead.  Certainly,  a  ques- 
tion of  territorial  right  should  be  judged  and  determined  nakedly, 
and  unembarrassed  by  other  considerations.  We  owe  that  to  our 
own  honor.  Still,  it  becomes  prudent  men,  especially  prudent 
statesmen,  when  taking  an  important  step,  to  look  to  its  results. 
Neither  national  nor  individual  acts  insulated — one  measure  leads 
to  another.  It  seems  to  me  it  is  not  only  our  right,  but  our  duty, 
as  the  Representatives  of  the  States,  to  inquire  where  this  mea- 
sure will  conduct  us.  If  to  a  stable  peace,  so  much  the  better. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  267 

If  to  war,  let  us  contemplate  its  prospects  and  its  dangers,  and  let 
us  prepare  for  its  consequences.  But,  at  any  rate,  let  us  comriune 
together,  and  not  blindly  rush  into  the  future,  rather  driven  by  our 
instincts,  than  guided  by  our  reason. 

Our  first  object  is  to  preserve  our  rights  ;  our  next  to  do  that 
peacefully.  While  we  all  hope  that  war  will  be  averted,  that  hope 
will  never  be  strengthened  by  underrating  the  capacity  of  either 
nation  to  defend  itself,  or  to  injure  its  opponent.  For  my  own 
part,  I  see  no  want  of  patriotism  in  stating  plainly  and  frankly  tne 
means  of  annoyance  that  England  possesses ;  and  I  think  the  course 
of  my  honorable  friend  from  Delaware-  upon  that  subject  was  equal- 
ly patriotic  and  injudicious.  There  is  said  to  be  a  bird  in  the  des- 
ert, which  hides  its  head  in  the  sand,  and  then  thinks  it  is  safe  from 
danger,  because  it  cannot  see  it.  Let  us  not  imitate  this  folly.  Let 
us  look  directly  at  what  we  must  encounter,  if  we  are  forced  to 
war,  and  then  let  us  behave  like  reasonable  men,  and  make  reason- 
able preparation  to  meet  it. 

I  see  it  said  in  a  late  London  Herald,  that  we  cannot  carry  on 
war,  because  we  cannot  procure  the  means  to  meet  the  necessary 
expenditures.  The  same  assertion  has  been  made  in  some  of  our 
own  journals,  and  even  by  higher  authority.  The  Senator  from 
South  Carolina  has  referred  in  this  connexion  to  a  venerable  man, 
for  whom,  and  for  whose  patriotic  services,  I  have  great  and  sin- 
cere respect,  who  has  awakened  from  a  political  slumber  of  almost 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  presents  himself  to  his  countrymen  with 
elaborate  statistical  tables,  showing  the  pecuniary  cost  of  war,  and 
the  burdens  it  brings  with  it.  All  this  is  unnecessary.  It  is  taught 
in  the  very  horn-book  of  national  expenditures.  Ours  is  not  a  ques- 
tion of  the  cost  of  war,  but  of  its  necessity.  That  same  eminent 
man,  the  survivor  of  the  cabinets  of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  of  Mr.  Ma- 
dison, was  understood,  in  1812,  to  entertain  a  similar  repugnance 
against  committing  the  destinies  of  his  country  to  war,  which  he 
now  exhibits,  and  to  foreshadow  similar  difficulties.  I  do  not  know 
if  the  fact  be  so.  I  can  repeat  only  the  rumors  of  that  day.  It 
was  then  asserted  and  believed,  that  some  reporter  document  from 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  intended  to  dampen  the  nation- 
al ardor,  by  an  imposing  array  of  the  contributions  it  would  be  ne- 
cessary to  levy  upon  the  country,  in  the  event  of  war,  and  thus  to 
prevent  its  occurrence.  But  the  effort,  if  made,  was  useless  then, 
and  it  will  be  useless  now.  The  war  went  on,  because  it  could 
not  be  avoided  without  a  sacrifice  of  the  national  rights  and  hon- 
or, and  it  came  to  a  glorious  conclusion.  It  pushed  us  forward  in 
all  the  elements  of  advancement.  And  as  we  did  then  so  shall  we 
do  now.  If  a  war  is  forced  upon  us,  we  shall  meet  it  with  its  dan- 
gers and  its  responsibilities.  No  array  of  figures  will  stop  the  peo- 
ple in  their  patriotic  course.  You  might  as  well  attempt  to  stop 
the  surges  of  the  ocean  beating  upon  the  sea  coast  by  marks  in 
the  sand,  which  the  first  wave  sweeps  away,  and  then  passes  on. 

As  to  this  notion,  that  a  war  cannot  be  maintained  without  cash 


268  LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CAS3. 

enough  in  the  possession  of  the  Government  to  carry  it  on,  or  the 
means  of  procuring  it  at  any  time  by  loans,  the  two  successful  ex- 
periments we  have  made  have  demonstrated  its  fallacy.  I  do  not 
stop  to  point  out  the  peculiarities  in  our  condition  which  prevent 
our  national  exertions  from  being  paralyzed  by  deficient  resources. 
They  are  to  be  found  in  the  spirit  and  patriotism  of  our  people  ; 
in  the  common  interest  they  feel  in  a  Government,  established 
by  them,  and  responsible  to  them;  in  the  system  of  private  credit, 
whiqh  almost  makes  part  of  our  institutions,  and  which  often  sep- 
arates by  wide  intervals  the  purchase  and  the  payment ;  in  the  abun- 
dance and  cheapness  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  in  the  military 
ardor  which  stimulates  our  young  men  and  sends  them  to  the  stand- 
ard of  their  country.  No  modern  Crresus,  be  a  king  of  financiers, 
or  a  financier  of  kings,  holds  in  his  hands  the  action  of  this  Gov- 
ernment. But  even  in  Europe,  a  decisive  experiment  has  shown, 
that  the  exertions  of  a  nation  are  not  to  be  crippled  by  a  crippled 
treasury.  One  of  the  great  errors  of  Mr.  Pitt  arose  from  his  be- 
lief, that  as  the  French  resources  and  credit  were  deranged  and 
almost  destroyed,  therefore,  France  was  incapable  of  the  necessary* 
efforts  to  defend  herself  against  the  formidable  coalition,  at  the 
head  of  which  England  placed  herself,  and  to  maintain  which  she 
poured  out  her  blood  as  freely  as  her  treasure.  But  the  result 
proved  the  folly  and  the  fallacy  of  all  this,  notwithstanding  the  de- 
preciation of  the  French  paper,  and  the  difficulties  consequent 
upon  it.  What  was  the  progress  and  the  result  of  this  effort  to  pre- 
vent a  people  from  changing  and  reorganizing  their  government, 
is  written  upon  the  pages  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  war,  and  still 
more  plainly  upon  the  oppressed  taxation  of  England  ;  which  now 
weighs  upon  her  present  condition  like  an  incubus,  and  overshad- 
ows her  future  with  dark  clouds  of  adversity. 

I  now  propose  to  submit  some  observations  upon  the  remarks 
presented  to  the  Senate  a  few  days  since,  by  the  distinguished 
Senator  from  South  Carolina.  The  originality  of  his  views,  and 
the  force  of  the  illustrations  with  which  they  were  supported,  give 
them  great  consideration  ;  and  as  it  seems  to  me,  that  in  some  im- 
portant particulars,  their  tendency  is  erroneous,  I  desire  to  com- 
municate the  impression  they  made  upon  me. 

While  I  shall  do  this,  with  the  freedom  which  a  sincere  search 
after  truth  justifies,  I  shall  do  it  with  the  respect  that  the  eminent 
services  and  high  character  of  the  Senator  justify,  and  that  an  un- 
interrupted friendship  of  thirty  years,  which  has  been  to  me  a 
source  of  great  gratification,  naturally  inspires. 

The  Senator  states,  that  when  this  proposition  for  notice  to  ter- 
minate the  joint  occupancy  of  Oregon  was  first  submitted  for  con- 
sideration, he  was  opposed  to  it.  But  that  now  he  is  in  favor  of 
it  in  some  modified  form  ;  the  form,  I  believe,  it  assumes  in  the 
resolution  of  the  Senator  from  Georgia. 

That  his  motives  of  action  were  the  same  in  both  cases — a  de- 
sire to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  two  countries  ;  that  in  the  former 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  269 

part  of  the  session,  he  thought  the  notice  would  lead  to  war,  and 
therefore  he  opposed  it;  that  he  thinks  now  it  would  lead  to  peace, 
and  therefore  he  favors  it. 

Certainly,  Mr.  President,  this  is  consistent  ground  for  any  man 
to  occupy.  A  change  of  action  on  questions  of  expediency,  where 
circumstances  have  changed,  is  a  dictate  of  true  wisdom.  He 
who  boasts  he  has  never  changed,  boasts,  in  fact,  that  the  lesson  of 
experience  have  been  lost  upon  him;  and  that  he  grows  older  with- 
out growing  wiser.  But  before  a  change  takes  place  in  our  appro- 
bation or  condemnation  of  a  great  question  of  national  policy,  the 
reasons  which  dictate  it  should  be  carefully  considered,  and  clearly 
established. 

Has  this  been  done  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  ?  I 
think  not.  He  assumes  the  very  fact,  upon  which  his  whole  argu- 
ment rests.  He  assumes  that  a  great  change  has  taken  place  both 
in  this  country  and  in  England,  in  public  opinion  upon  this  subject, 
which  will  necessarily  lead  to  a  compromise,  and  thus  to  an  ami- 
cable adjustment  of  this  serious  and  long  pending  controversy. 

Of  the  fact  itself,  thus  alleged,  the  Senator  furnishes  no  proof. 
Indeed,  he  attempts  to  furnish  none.  He  merely  says  :  "There  is 
one  point,  in  which  we  must  all  be  agreed,  that  a  great  change 
has  taken  place  since  the  commencement  of  this  discussion  in  re- 
lation to  notice,  in  its  bearings  upon  the  question  of  peace  or  war." 
"Public  opinion  has  had  time  to  develope  itself,  not  only  on  this, 
but  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  that  opinion  has  pro- 
nounced most  audibly  and  clearly  in  favor  of  compromise." 

"As  things  now  stand,  I  no  longer  regard  it  as  a  question  whether 
the  controversy  shall  be  pacifically  arranged  or  not,  nor  even  in 
what  manner  it  shall  be  arranged.  1  regard  the  arrangement  now 
simply  a  question  of  time,"  &,c. 

Mr.  President,  I  cannot  partake  this  confidence.  The  signs  of 
the  times  are  anything  but  auspicious  to  me.  It  will  be  per- 
ceived, that  the  annunciation  thus  certainly  made  of  the  peaceful 
termination  of  this  matter,  rests  upon  the  change  in  public  opinion 
and  upon  the  conviction,  that  both  Governments  are  ready  to  com- 
promise, and  both  prepared  to  come  to  the  same  line ;  so  much  so, 
indeed,  that  the  Senator  adds,  "  he  trusts  that  in  concluding  it 
there  will  be  no  unnecessary  delay. 

In  all  this,  sir,  I  am  under  the  impression,  there  is  a  great  mis- 
apprehension. As  to  the  universality  of  the  proposition,  that  all 
are  agreed  as  to  this  change,  I  know  there  is  an  error.  For  my- 
self, my  conviction  is  as  strong  as  human  conviction  can  be,  not 
only  that  the  change  thus  indicated  has  not  taken  place,  but  that 
a  great  change  has  been  going  on  in  a  contrary  direction.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  opposition  to  a  compromise  upon  the  parallel  of  49° 
has  increased,  is  increasing,  and  will  go  on  to  increase ;  and  that 
both  here  and  in  England,  public  opinion  is  less  confident  in  an 
amicable  settlement  of  this  dispute.  I  shall  not  pursue  this  matter 
into  its  details.  I  will  merely  remark,  that  the  evidences  of  pub- 


270  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

lie  opinion,  which  reach  us,  whether  borne  here  by  letters,  by 
newspapers,  by  the  declarations  of  conventions,  or  by  the  resolu- 
tions of  legislative  bodies,  is  decisive  and  indisputable.  And,  in 
proof  of  this,  look  at  the  passage  of  the  resolutions  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  by  a  majority  almost  unknown  in  a  free  country 
upon  a  great  question  like  this,  and  involving  such  momentous 
consequences  ;  and  this,  too,  when  the  Senator  says,  he  thought 
their  passage  would  lead  to  war.  And'  what  say  the  advices  from 
England  ?  They  speak  a  language  as  positive,  as  it  is  minatory. 
What  says  the  "  Standard,"  of  March  3d,  the  great  Tory  organ? 
I  will  tell  you  :  "  But  will  the  American  Congress  confirm  the  in- 
solent and  unwarrantable  tone  adopted  by  this  braggadocio  ?"  fyc. 
And  the  person  thus  denominated  by  these  models  of  all  that  is 
decorous,  so  often  recommended  to  us  for  our  study,  is  the  Presi- 
dent of  this  great  Republic.  "  And  dreadful  as  is  the  alternative, 
it  will  be  with  the'  utmost  difficulty  that  any  British  Minister  can 
escape  fiom  it  with  honor."  The  last  London  Times  that  I  have 
seen  sayc  :  • 

"  The  joint  navigation  of  the  Columbia,  the  right  of  harbors  on 
the  sea-coast,  and  the  right  of  traffic  for  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 
on  one  bank  of  the  river,  are,  we  think,  demands  neither  unjust 
nor  extravagant."  The  London  Gazette,  of  March  3d,  says : — 
"  The  ntwsfrom  the  United  States  justifies  the  fears  we  have  re' 
pcatcdly  cypressed  of  the  determined  spirit  of  hostility  which  per- 
vades a  powerful  party  in  the  United  States."-  The  London  Sun, 
a  neutral  paper,  says  :  "The  news  from  this  country  has  produced 
a  strong  feeling  of  indignation  among  our  commercial  circles  ;  and 
those  who  have  all  along  opposed  the  expediency  of  war,  on  ac- 
count of  mercantile  connexions,  now  openly  claim  a  vindication  of 
the  honor  of  the  country  at  the  hands  of  the  Executive."  "  The 
feeling  everywhere  is,  that  England,  having  shown  as  much  for- 
bearance as  is  compatible  with  her  station  in  in  the  scale  of  na- 
tions, is  now  called  upon  to  treat  the  proceedings  of  the  American 
legislators  with  the  contempt  they  deserve."  The  Liverpool  Cou- 
rier of  March  4th,  says  :  "The  consequences  to  which  it  may  lead 
(the  refusal  to  arbitrate)  may  be  most  calamitous.  But  the  Amer- 
icans will  only  have  themselves  to  blame,  if  war  ensues  ;  for  Eng- 
land has  done  all  in  her  power  to  bring  matters  to  a  satisfactory 
and  peaceful  issue."  Such  are  the  evidences  of  public  opinion  in 
England,  which  the  last  packet  brought  us;  and  of  the  favorable 
change  there,  which  renders  a  compromise  certain,  and  a  question 
only  of  time. 

The  honorable  Senator  has  referred,  in  this  connexion,  to  the 
declaration  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  made  some  time  since  in  the  Brit- 
ish House  of  Commons,  that  he  regretted  their  Minister  had  not 
transmitted  to  his  Government  the  proposition  of  a  compromise 
upon  the  parallel  of  49  degrees ;  that  if  not  satisfactory,  it  might 
have  been  made  the  basis  of  a  modified  offer.  I  am  not  inclined  to 
draw  as  favorable  a  conclusion,  however,  as  the  honorable  Sena- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  271 

tor,  from  this  incidental  remark,  made,  not  to  us,  but  in  the  course 
of  a  Parliamentary  discussion.  In  fact,  it  is  so  cautiously  express- 
ed, as  to  lead  to  no  useful  deduction  respecting  his  real  views.  It 
is  a  mere  barren  remark.  Had  the  Premier  intended  it  should 
produce  any  practical  consequences,  he  would  have  communicated 
to  our  Government  the  views  of  the  British  Cabinet,  and  would  have 
accepted  the  offer,  or  returned  it  with  the  proposed  modification. 
But  we  hear  nothing  of  this  disapprobation — no,  not  disapproba- 
tion, but  of  soft  regret  at  the  hasty  decision  of  the  British  Minister 
here — till  six  months  after  it  took  place,  and  then  we  learn  it  in 
the  public  debates,  and  that  is  the  last  of  it.  It  is  to  me  a  curious 
chapter  in  the  history  of  British  diplomacy,  that  a  Minister  would 
venture  to  take  the  grave  responsibility  of  rejecting  such  a  propo- 
sition, without  referring  it  to  his  Government,  and  he  is  not  even 
censured  for  it.  If  he  had  been  recalled,  or  a  successor  sent  out, 
with  instructions  to  accept  the  propositions  made  by  our  Govern- 
ment for  a  compromise,  we  should  then  have  had  a  proof  of  sin- 
cerity better  than  a  barren  declaration,  and  which  might  have  led 
to  a  better  state  of  feeling 

The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  has  entered  at  some  length 
into  a  defence  of  his  views  respecting  the  acquisition  of  Oregon, 
by  what  is  called  the  process  of  masterly  inactivity.  And  if  he  has 
not  made  converts  to  his  opinion,  he  has  gained  many  admirers  of 
his  talents  by  his  masterly  vindication  of  it. 

Certainly,  sir,  it  is  often  the  part  of  true  wisdom  in  this  world 
to  stand  still — to  wait  for  time  and  circumstances.  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  wisdom  in  old  proverbs,  and  one  of  them  says,  "Let 
welt  enough  alone."  Time  has  wrought  many  wonders  for  our 
country,  and  is  destined  to  work  many  more.  The  practical  diffi- 
culty is,  to  determine  when  inaction  should  cease  and  action  com- 
mence, and  how  the  operations  of  time  can  be  best  aided  by  enter- 
prise and  industry.  The  honorable  Senator  says,  that  circumstan- 
ces have  got  ahead  of  his  system,  and  that  he  adverts  to  the  sub- 
ject, not  to  apply  it,  but  to  defend  it.  It  seems  to  me,  sir,  it  never 
could  have  produced  the  results  the  Senator  anticipated,  and  pro- 
duced them  peacefully. 

Here  was  an  open  question,  which,  for  almost  forty  years,  had 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  two  countries,  which  had  been  kept 
at  arm's  length  by  an  improvident  arrangement,  instead  of  being 
grappled  with  and  adjusted,  as  it  could  have  been,  and  should  have 
been,  long  ago,  and  which  had  at  length  increased  to  a  fearful 
magnitude;  and,  what  is  still  more,  had  begun  to  enlist  passions 
and  feelings,  and  interests,  that  threatened  to  take  the  controversy 
from  the  pen,  and  to  commit  it  to  the  sword.  The  claims  of  two 
•  great  countries  to  a  distant  territory  were  unsettled,  and  in  a  con- 
dition unprecedented  in  the  history  of  national  intercourse.  Each 
with  a  right  to  occupy  the  whole  of  the  territory,  but  each  liable 
to  have  this  right  defeated  by  the  previous  action  of  the  other  par- 
ty— each  holding  a  remote  possession,  beginning  to  fill  up  by  emi- 


272  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

gration  with  their  respective  citizens  and  subjects,  hardy,  enterpri- 
sing, and  somewhat  pugnacious,  intermingled  upon  the  same  soil, 
seizing  it  as  they  could,  and  holding  it  as  they  might,  without  any 
of  those  improvements,  which  require  for  their  creation  and  sup- 
port the  joint  and  legal  action  of  a  community,  and  wholly  irre- 
sponsible for  their  acts  towards  one  another,  except  through  the 
medium  of  tribunals  belonging  to  the  party  claiming  allegiance 
over  the  aggressor,  and  possessing  no  sympathy  with  the  complai- 
nant. The  end  of  all  this  may  be  foreseen  without  the  gift  of  se- 
cond sight.  Collisions  must  be  inevitable.  The  only  wonder  is, 
they  have  not  already  occurred.  And  the  first  gun  that  is  fired  up- 
on the  Columbia,  will  send  its  echoes  to  the  Potomac  and  the 
Thames.  And  think  you,  that  the  matter  will  be  coolly  examined, 
dispassionately  discussed,  and  amicably  arranged  ?  No,  sir;  each 
nation  will  believe  its  own  story,  and  both  will  be  ready  to  arm, 
and  assert  its  honor,  and  defend  its  citizens.  All  history  is  full  of 
these  indictments;  and  the  peace  of  two  great  nations  is  now  held 
by  the  slightest  tenure,  dependent  upon  passions  and  interests  to 
be  called  into  fierce  action  upon  the  shores  that  look  out  upon 
China  and  Japan.  We  are  told  that  time  is  the  great  physician, 
who  might  have  cured  this  disordered  state  of  our  political  affairs. 
I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  silent  and  ceaseless  operations  of  that 
mighty  agent.  But  this  case  was  beyond  its  power.  If,  indeed, 
time  would  stand  still  for  one  of  the  parties,  and  move  only  for  the 
other — stand  still  for  England,  and  move  on  for  us — our  state  of 
progress  would  soon  pour  through  the  passes  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains a  host  of  emigrants  who  would  spread  over  all  the  hills  and 
vallies  from  the  summit  of  that  great  barrier  to  that  other  barrier, 
the  ocean  itself,  which  says  to  the  advancing  settlements, — Come 
no  farther.  But  neither^time  nor  England  would  stand  still.  Her 
Government  is  sagacious,  alive'to  her  interests,  and  ready  to  main- 
tain them.  She  knows  the  value  of  the  country  as' well  as  we  do, 
and  appreciates  it  perhaps  higher.  No  one  can  read  the  speeches 
in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  4th  of  April  last,  without  being 
sensible,  that  the  subject,  in  all  its  extent,  has  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  the  British  Government,  and  that  the  country  itself  will 
occupy  its  fostering  care.  Think  you  that  that  Government  would 
have  continued  to  see  band  after  band  of  our  citizens  leaving  our 
frontier  settlements,  lost  to  human  observation  almost  for  months 
while  passing  through  the  desert  with  its  toils,  its  privations,  and 
its  dangers,  and  finally  emerging  into  the  land  of  promise,  to  seize 
it,  and  to  hold  it,  and  would  have  looked  calmly  on,  receding  as 
we  advanced,  retreating  to  the  hill  as  we  descended  into  the  valley, 
and  finally  yielding  us  quiet  possession  of  this  long  disputed  ter- 
ritory? He,  who  does  not  believe  all  this,  must  believe  that  tiraf 
would  not  have  peacefully  adjusted  this  controversy  for  us.  But, 
besides,  this  process  of  adjustment  does  not  assume  that  our  right 
to  exclude  the  British  from  the  country  will  be  increased  by  settle- 
ment. It  may  add  strength  to  our  power,  but  none  to  our  title. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  273 

It  does  not  presuppose  that  war  is  to  be  averted,  but  only  postpon- 
ed. The  rights  of  England,  at  the  end  of  any  given  period,  will 
be  precisely  what  they  now  are;  and,  unless  she  should  voluntarily 
relinquish  them,  a  conflict  would  be  inevitable.  It  seems  to  me 
very  clear,  that  if  she  would  ever  be  disposed  to  abandon  the  coun- 
try, she  would  do  it  now,  when  the  disparity  of  force  there  is  not 
such  as  to  cast  the  reproach  of  timidity  upon  her  counsels,  and 
when  the  number  of  her  subjects  is  not  such  as  to  render  difficult 
a  satisfactory  arrangement  for  them. 

Mr.  President,  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  has  held  up  to 
our  view  a  sombre  picture  of  the  calamities,  which  a  war  with 
England  would  bring  upon  the  United  States — too  sombre,  sir,  if  I 
am  not  utterly  ignorant  of  the  history  and  condition  of  my  coun- 
try, and  of  the  energy  and  spirit  of  my  countrymen.  I  shall  not 
examine  it  feature  by  feature  ;  but  there  are  certain  portions  I  de- 
sire to  present  to  the  Senate. 

What  probable  circumstances  could  require  this  country  to  keep 
up  a  military  and  naval  force  of  two  hundred  thousand  men  for 
ten  years — the  land  portion  of  it  divided  into  seven  great  armies — 
I  confess  my  utter  inability  to  conjecture.  Why  the  honorable 
Senator  fixes  upon  that  period  for  the  duration  of  the  war,  I  know 
not.  It  is  so  wholly  conjectural  as  to  elude  the  application  of  any 
principle  to  it.  Long  before  its  expiration,  if  we  are  not  utterly 
unworthy  of  our  name  and  our  birthright,  .we  should  sweep  the 
British  Power  from  the  continent  of  North  America,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  the  time  must  be  occupied  by  predatory  incursions  up- 
on the  coast  and  by  hostilities  upon  the  ocean.  The  dangers  or 
disasters,  which  this  state  of  things  brings  with  it,  would  require 
but  a  small  portion  of  the  force  considered  necessary  by  the  Sena- 
tor. As  to  Mexico,  I  trust  we  shall  bear  much  from  her.  We 
owe  that  to  our  own  strength  and  to  her  weakness  ;  to  our  own 
position,  not  less  than  to  the  situation  of  her  Government  and  to 
the  quasi  civil  war,  which  seems  to  be  the  curse  of  her  condition. 
But  should  we  be  driven  to  put  forth  our  strength,  peace  would 
ensue,  and  speedily  ;  but  it  would  be  a  peace  dictated  in  her  capi- 
tal, and  placing  her  political  destiny  at  our  disposition. 

And  besides,  during  the  progress  of  such  a  war,  to  which  the 
honorable  gentleman  alludes,  who  can  tell  the  sphere  of  its  opera- 
tions, and  what  nations  would  become  parties  to  it?  How  soon 
would  the  great  maritime  questions  of  our  day  present  themselves 
for  solution  ?  How  long  would  it  be  before  England  would  revive 
and  enforce  those  belligerent  pretensions,  which  drove  us  to  war 
when  we  were  neutral,  and  which  would 'drive  other  nations  to 
war  occupying  the  same  position  ?  How  long  before  the  violation 
of  her  flag  would  arouse  the  public  feeling  of  France,  and  compel 
her  Government  to  vindicate  its  honor  ?  And  who  can  tell  what 
war  of  principles  and  opinions  would  come  to  add  its  excitement 
and  passions  to  the  usual  struggles  of  contending  nations  ?  The 
world  is,  indeed,  in  comparative  repose  ;  but  there  are  causes  in 

18 


274  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

operation  which,  if  quickened  into  action  by  peculiar  circumstan- 
ces, might  shake  the  institutions  of  Europe  to  their  very  founda- 
tions. I  consider  a  war  between  England  and  the  United  States 
for  ten  years,  or  for  half  of  that  time,  utterly  impossible,  without 
bringing  into  collision  the  great  questions  of  our  day — the  right  to 
govern  arid  the  duty  to  submit — and  into  fierce  action  the  interests 
and  passions,  which  such  a  struggle  would  excite — a  struggle  that 
must  come,  but  which  such  a  war  would  accelerate. 

In  order  that  I  may  remove  even  the  possibility  of  misinterpre- 
ting the  sentiments  of  the  Senator,  1  will  read  an  extract  or  two 
from  his  speech.  After  alluding  to  the  material  horrors  of  war, 
and  doing  justice  to  the  courage  of  his  countrymen,  he  adds,  that 
a  war  between  us  and  Great  Britain,  such  as  has  been  described, 
"  in  which  every  nerve  and  muscle  would  be  strained  to  the  ut- 
most, and  every  dollar  put  in  requisition  which  could  be  command- 
ed, could  not  fail,  under  present  circumstances,  to  work  most  dis- 
astrous, and  I  fear  incurable  changes  in  the  social  condition  of 
our  people,  and  in  their  political  institutions."  He  then  adverts 
to  the  consequences  of  such  a  war,  drawing  after  it  a  Mexican 
war  and  an  Indian  war.  He  thinks  we  should  need  two  fleets,  six 
or  seven  armies,  one  hundred  million  of  dollars  annually,  and  a 
proportionate  system  of  taxation.  He  then  continues,  after  show- 
ing the  destruction  of  the  State  governments,  and  the  consolida- 
tion of  all  power  in  the  central  authority,  and  that  our  very  suc- 
cess would  engender  a  spirit  inconsistent  with  the  genius  of  our 
Government :  "  It  would  then  be  a  straight  Bnd  downward  road, 
which  leads  to  where  so  many  free  States  have  terminated  their 
career — a  military  despotism.  In  the  mean  time  we  should  have 
to  provide  for  three  or  four  successful  generals,  who  would  soon 
be  competing  for  the  presidency,  and  before  the  generation,  which 
would  have  waged  the  war  would  have  passed  away,  they  might 
possibly  witness  a  contest  between  hostile  generals  for  that  su- 
preme office — a  contest  between  him  who  might  conquer  Mexico 
and  him  who  might  conquer  (Canada,  terminated  by  the  sword." 

But  permit  me  to  ask  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  if  all 
this  were  so,  if  his  anticipations  were  certain,  instead  of  being 
puely  gratuitous,  ought  the  assurance  of  such  events  to  come 
from  him,  from  such  a  high  authority,  in  so  high  a  place  ?  In  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  from  one  who  has  filled  some  of 
the  most  important  positions  in  our  Government ;  whose  servi- 
ces and  talents,  and  character,  give  him  great  consideration  with 
his  countrymen ;  who  possesses  a  European  fame ;  and  whose 
opinions  are  quoted  at  this  moment  in  London  and  Paris  as  indi- 
cations of  our  policy,  and  of  the  final  result  of  this  controversy? 
Is  it  well  thus  to  announce  to  the  world  our  incapacity  to  defend 
ourselves?  For  that  is  in  fact  the  result,  A  government  dissolv- 
ed, or  rather  changed  to  a  despotism,  a  country  ruined,  and  even- 
tually its  fragments  a  prey  to  ambitious  generals,  as  the  empire  of 
Alexander  was  partitioned  among  his  lieutenants !  War,  then, 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  275- 

becomes  not  a  measure  of  safety,  but  a  signal  of  destruction  to 
the  American  people.  We  are  powerless  to  defend  ourselves.  If 
we  are  struck  upon  one  cheek,  we  must  turn  the  other ;  not  in  a 
spirit  of  Christian  charity,  but  in  the  despair  of  helplessness.  We 
are  bound  together  by  a  fair-weather  Government,  incapable  of 
riding  out  the  storms  of  foreign  aggression.  Submission  must  be 
our  refuge,  for  beyond  submission  is  destruction.  We  shall  ex- 
hibit the  extraordinary  spectacle  of  a  great  people,  great  in  all  the 
elements  of  power  and  prosperity,  saying  to  the  world,  in  effect, 
we  cannot  contend  with  England ;  we  are  at  her  mercy,  for  even 
success  would  ruin  us. 

Now,  sir,  this  is  not  so.  There  is  not  one  man  within  the  sound 
of  my  voice  whose  heart  does  not  tell  him,  such  has  not  been  your 
past — such  will  not  be  your  future.  The  honorable  Senator,  in 
looking  at  the  real  calamities  of  war,  which  I  seek  neither  to  con- 
ceal nor  to  deny,  has  suffered  himself  to  overrate  them.  They 
have  struck  him  more  forcibly  than  they  should  'do.  The  experi- 
ment of  two  wars  with  England,  into  which  we  entered,  and  from 
which  we  issued  gloriously,  puts  the  stamp  of  error  upon  these  sad 
forebodings.  How  they  pushed  us  forward,  in  character  and  po- 
sition among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  I  need  not  tell ;  nor  need  I 
say,  that  the  march  of  this  country  in  all  that  constitutes  the  pow- 
er and  happiness  of  a  people,  is  a  practical  proof,  that  those  con- 
flicts left  no  wounds  upon  our  institutions,  and  but  temporary 
checks  upon  our  prosperity. 

The  honorable  Senator  has  appealed  to  his  past  history  in  proof, 
that  in  presenting  these  views  he  acted  in  no  unmanly  fear  for 
himself,  and  that  if  war  comes,  he  would  be  among  the  last  to 
flinch.  No,  Mr.  President,  no  one  in  this  nation  doubts  that  his 
course  would  be  firm  and  patriotic,  should  war  be  forced  upon  us. 
But  he  will  permit  me  also  to  appeal ;  to  appeal  from  the  Senator 
of  1846  to  the  Representative  of  1812.  He  is  the  Ultimus  Ro~ 
manorum — the  last  of  the  Romans :  the  sole  survivor  among  us 
of  a  generation  of  statesmen,  who  have  passed  from  the  legislative 
service  of  their  country.  The  last  of  the  actors,  not  of  the  sign-, 
ers,  who  gave  to  the  world  our  second  declaration  of  independ« 
ence,  scarcely  inferior  in  its  causes  and  consequences  to  the  first. 
He  came  here  young,  unknown  to  his  country.  He  left  these  halls 
with  a  maturity  of  fame,  which  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  any  states- 
man. I  was  then  upon  the  frontier,  and  well  do  I  remember  with 
what  straining  eyes  and  beating  hearts  we  turned  towards  the  Cap- 
itol, to  know  if  the  honor  and  interests  of  our  country  would  be 
asserted  and  maintained.  There  were  then  two  men  here,  upon 
whom,  more  than  upon  any  others,  perhaps  more  than  upon  all 
others,  devolved  the  task  of  advocating  the  war,  and  of  carrying 
through  the  measures  of  the  Administration.  And  nobly  did  they 
perform  their  duty.  They  were  the  honorable  Senator  from  South 
Carolina,  and  a  retired  statesman,  Mr.  Clay,  from  whom,  though 
it  has  been  my  fortune  to  differ  in  the  party  contests  that  divide 


276  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

us,  yet  it  has  always  been  my  pride  to  do  justice  to  his  eminent 
qualities,  and  to  his  high  services  to  his  country,  and  especially  to 
his  services  during  our  last  contest  with  England.  They  were  the 
leaders  of  that  great  legislative  war,  who,  like  the  Homeric  he- 
roes, threw  themselves  into  the  middle  of  the  fight,  and  fought  the 
battles  of  their  party  and  of  their  country,  with  equal  talents,  firm- 
ness, and  success. 

As  to  the  evils  of  war,  he  of  us  is  blind  to  all  historical  experi- 
ence, who  does  not  see  them,  and  unfaithful  to  his  position,  who 
does  not  acknowledge  them.  There  is  no  such  representative  of 
the  States  here.  We  all  acknowledge  the  evils  of  war,  both  moral 
and  material.  We  differ  as  to  their  degree,  and  as  to  the  power 
of  this  country  to  endure  and  to  inflict  them.  While  the  condi- 
tion of  England  presents  great  means  of  annoyance,  it  presents 
also  palpable  elements  of  weakness.  I  am  not  her  panegyri&t.  I 
shall  never  be  accused  of  that.  But  if  I  see  the  defects  of  her 
national  character,  I  can  see  also  her  redeeming  virtues.  I  am 
sensibly  alive  to  the  acts  of  injustice  she  has  done  us.  The  feel- 
ing is  deposited  at  my  heart's  core.  But  I  do  not  shut  my  eyes, 
either  to  her  power  or  to  the  virtues  she  actually  possesses.  I  need 
not  tell  what  she  has  done  to  attract  the  admiration  of  the  world ; 
for  her  deeds  of  war  and  peace  are  written  upon  many  a  bright 
page  of  human  story.  She  has  reached  a  commanding  eminence 
among  the  powers  of  the  earth — a  giddy  eminence;  and  I  believe 
she  will  find  it  an  unstable  one.  1  do  not,  however,  estimate  her 
present  position  as  high  as  many  do,  and  I  consider  it  as  unsafe 
as  almost  any  one  can.  The  elements  of  her  weakness  lie  upon 
the  very  surface  of  her  affairs,  open  to  the  most  careless  observer. 
But  she  has  great  military  and  naval  establishments,  and  she  is 
augmenting  and  extending  them.  I  am  not  going  to  spread  be- 
fore the  Senate  the  statistics  of  her  powers  of  annoyance  and  de- 
fence. This  has  been  sufficiently  done  already.  But  I  will  ex- 
press my  decided  conviction,  that  these  tabular  statements  give  an 
exaggerated  picture  of  her  condition.  Old  vessels,  old  guns,  mere 
hulks,  invalids,  the  relics  of  half  a  century  of  war,  are  arranged 
in  formidable  lists  of  figures,  and  go  on  to  swell  the  general  ag- 
gregate. 

Besides,  she  has  peculiar  drawbacks  to  the  exertion  of  her  pow- 
er. The  seeds  of  danger  are  sown  in  the  most  important  pro- 
vince of  her  home  empire,  and  may  at  any  time  start  up  into  an 
abundant  harvest  of  ruin  and  disaster.  The  dragon's  teeth  may 
become  armed  men. 

She  has  possessions  round  the  world  to  retain,  and  in  many  of 
them  a  discontented  population  to  restrain.  Her  commerce,  the 
very  foundation  of  her  prosperity  and  greatness,  is  scattered  over 
all  the  bays,  and  inlets,  and  gulfs,  and  seas  of  the  world ;  and  he 
who  knows  the  daring  character  and  enterprise  of  our  people, 
knows  that  our  public  and  private  armed  vessels  would  almost 
sweep  it  from  existence.  But  I  shall  not  pursue  this  investigation 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  277 

further.  While  I  believe  she  will  go  to  war  with  us,  if  she  can- 
not escape  from  it  without  wholly  sacrificing  her  own  honor,  as 
she  views  the  question,  I  recollect  she  has  done  so  twice  before, 
with  no  credit  to  herself,  but  with  imperishable  glory  for  us. 

A  few  words  as  to  the  condition  of  her  finances,  and  her  means 
of  carrying  on  a  war.  It  is  said  to  be  the  last  feather,  that  breaks 
the  camel's  back.  That  the  time  will  come  when  the  artificial 
and  oppressive  fiscal  system  of  England  must  break  down,  and, 
like  the  strong  man  of  Israel,  involve  her  existing  institutions  in 
the  fall,  is  as  certain  as  any  future  political  event  can  be.  But 
that  time  has  not  yet  come,  and  he  must  be  a  bolder  or  a  wiser 
man  than  I  am,  to  predict  when  it  will  come.  She  has  the  same 
means  now  to  meet  her  war  expenditures,  which  she  has  long  had: 
the  power  of  drawing  upon  the  future  for  the  exigencies  of  the 
present,  leaving  the  generations  to  come  to  pay  the  debt,  or  to  cast 
it  off,  like  a  burden  too  heavy  to  be  borne.  At  this  very  moment 
she  is  making  an  experiment,  which  will  be  almost  a  revolution. 
A  wise  experiment,  as  I  believe,  but  still  a  fearful  one,  for  an  old 
society,  whose  habits  are  fixed,  and  which  accommodates  itself 
with  difficulty  even  to  gradual  changes. 

As  to  the  points  of  contrast  between  our  condition  and  that  of 
England,  they  are  before  the  world  ;  and  for  the  purposes  of  peace 
or  war,  we  need  not  fear  the  most  searching  examination. 

Happen  what  may,  we  can  neither  be  overrun  nor  conquered. 
England  might  as  well  attempt  to  blow  up  the  rock  of  Gibraltar 
with  a  squib,  as  to  attempt  to  subdue  us.  I  suppose  an  English- 
man even  never  thinks  of  that,  and  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  ex- 
hibit in  stronger  terms  its  impossibility. 

I  might  easily  spread  before  the  Senate  our  capacity  to  annoy  a 
maritime  adversary,  and  to  sweep  the  British  flag  from  this  part  of 
the  continent ;  but  I  forbear.  What  we  have  twice  done  in  the 
days  of  our  comparative  weakness,  we  can  repeat  and  far  exceed 
in  these  days  of  our  strength.  While,  therefore,  I  do  not  conceal 
from  myself,  that  a  war  with  England  would  temporarily  check 
our  progress,  and  lead  many  evils  in  its  train,  still  I  have  no  fear 
of  the  issue,  and  I  have  an  abiding  confidence,  that  we  shall  come 
out  of  it,  not  indeed  unharmed,  but  with  all  the  elements  of  our 
prosperity  safe,  and  with  many  a  glorious  achievement  written  on 
the  pages  of  our  history. 

It  pains  me,  sir,  to  hear  allusions  to  the  destruction  of  this  Gov- 
ernment, and  to  the  dissolution"  of  this  confederacy.  It  pains  me, 
not  because  they  inspire  me  with  any  fear,  but  because  we  ought 
to  have  one  unpronounceable  word,  as  the  Jews  had  of  old,  and 
that  word  is  dissolution.  We  should  reject  the  feeling  from  our 
hearts  and  its  name  from  our  tongues.  This  cry  of  "  wo,  wo,  to 
Jerusalem,"  grates  harshly  upon  my  ears.  Our  Jerusalem  is  nei- 
ther beleaguered  nor  in  danger.  It  is  yet  the  city  upon  a  hill,  glo- 
rious in  what  it  is,  still  more  glorious,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  in 
what  it  is  to  be — a  landmark,  inviting  the  nations  of  the  world, 


278  LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS. 

struggling  upon  the  stormy  sea  of  political  oppression,  to  follow  us 
to  a  haven  of  safety  and  of  rational  liberty.  No  English  Titus  will 
enter  our  temple  of  freedom  through  a  breach  in  our  battlements, 
to  bear  thence  the  ark  of  our  constitution  and  the  book  of  our 
law,  to  take  their  stations  in  a  triumphal  procession  in  the  streets 
of  a  modern  Rome,  as  trophies  of  conquest  and  proofs  of  submis- 
sion. 

Many  a  raven  has  croaked  in  my  day,  but  the  augury  lias  fail- 
ed, and  the  Republic  has  marched  onward.  Many  a  crisis  has 
presented  itself  to  the  imagination  of  our  political  Cassandras,  but 
we  have  still  increased  in  political  prosperity  as  we  have  increased 
in  years,  and  that,  too,  with  an  accelerated  progress  unknown  to 
the  history  of  the  world.  We  have  a  class*  of  men,  whose  eyes 
are  always  upon  the  future,  overlooking  the  blessings  around  us, 
and  for  ever  apprehensive  of  some  great  political  evil,  which  is  to 
arrest  our  course  somewhere  or  other  on  this  side  of  the  railleni- 
um.  To  them,  we  are  the  image  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  brass, 
and  clay,  contrariety  in  unity,  which  the  first  rude  blow  of  misfor- 
tune is  to  strike  from  its  pedestal. 

For  my  own  part,  I  consider  this  the  strongest  government  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  for  good,  and  the  weakest  for  evil.  Strong, 
because  supported  by  the  public  opinion  of  a  people  inferior  to 
none  of  the  communities  of  the  earth  in  all  that  constitutes  moral 
worth  and  useful  knowledge,  and  who  have  breathed  into  their  po- 
litical system  the  breath  of  life;  and  who  would  destroy  it,  as  they 
created  it,  if  it  were  unworthy  of  them,  or  failed  to  fulfil  their  just 
expectation?. 

And  weak  for  evil,  from  this  very  consideration,  which  would 
make  its  follies  and  its  faults  the  signal  of  its  overthrow.  It  is  the 
only  Government  in  existence  which  no  revolution  can  subvert. 
It  may  be  changed,  but  it  provides  for  its  own  change,  when  the 
public  will  requires.  Plots  and  insurrections,  and  the  various 
struggles,  by  which  an  oppressed  population  manifests  its  suffer- 
ings and  seeks  the  recovery  of  its  rights,  have  no  place  here.  We 
have  nothing  to  fear  but  ourselves. 

And  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  will  permit  me  to  remark, 
that  the  apprehension  he  expresses,  that  a  war  may  bring  forward 
military  chieftains,  who  would  ultimately  establish  their  own  pow- 
er upon  the  ruins  of  their  country's  freedom,  is,  in  my  opinion,  if 
not  the  last  of  all  the  evils,  one  of  the  very  last,  which  this  Re- 
public has  to  fear.  I  will  not  stop  to  point  out  the  circumstances 
of  our  position,  character,  and  institutions,  which  render  a  mili- 
tary despotism  impossible  in  this  country.  They  are  written  in 
burning  characters,  not  u  >on  the  wall,  but  upon  the  heart  of  every 
American ;  and  they  need  no  seer  to  expound  them.  Our  safety 
is  our  union ;  our  only  fear,  disunion.  In  the  moral  government 
of  the  world,  national  offences  are  punished  by  national  calami- 
ties It  may  be  that  we  may  forsake  the  God  of  our  fathers,  and 
seek  after  strange  gods.  If  we  do,  and  are  struck  with  judicial 


LIFE    Or    GENERAL    CASS.  279 

blindness,  we  shall  but  add  another  to  the  long  list  of  nations  un- 
worthy of  the  blessings  acquired  for  them  by  preceding  genera- 
tions, and  incapable  of  maintaining  them  ; — but  none  as  signally 
so  as  we. 

Mr.  Benton,  of  Missouri,  followed  Gen.  Cass,  taking  issue  with 
him  upon  his  geographical  statements  and  questioning  some  of  the 
authorities  cited  by  him.  To  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Benton,  Gen. 
Cass  replied  as  follows  : 

•  Mr.  President,  I  have  come  here  this  morning  to  set  myself 
free.  Twice  in  my  life  I  have  been  captured  by  enemies — 
once  fighting  against  British  pretensions  in  war,  arid  again  fight- 
ing against  British  pretensions  in  peace.  My  country  redeemed 
me  in  the  former  case — I  come  to  redeem  myself  in  the  latter.  I 
say  enemies,  but  I  trust  the  term  is  only  metaphorically  applicable. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  former  relations  between  the  honorable 
senator  from  Missouri  and  myself,  nothing  in  our  present  position, 
which  should  make  us  enemies.  On  the  contrary,  a  'ong  personal 
friendship  has  existed  between  us,  which  I  did  not  suppose  was 
sundered.  If,  however,  it  is  otherwise,  I  must  bear  it  as  I  may.  I 
have  borne  greater  calamities  than  even  the  hostility  of  the  honor-' 
able  gentleman  from  Missouri. 

I  came  here,  sir,  as  I  said  before,  to  redeem  myself;  and  I  mean 
to  do  it : — to  do  it  by  correcting  a  misapprehension — by  speaking 
the  truth. 

'  He  is  the  freeman,  whom  the  truth  makes  free  ; 
All  else  are  slaves  beside/' 

I  will  not  speak  in  the  triumphant  tone  which  pervades  the 
speech  of  the  honorable  senator  from  Missouri.  It  is  not  my  hab- 
it. "  Let  not  him  that  girdeth  on  his  harness,  boast  himself  as  he 
that  putteth  it  off."  Let  no  man  boast  till  the  victory  is  won.  And 
especially,  let  him  not  boast  while  his  adversary  is  absent.  What 
the  senator  said  presents  subjects  enough  for  animadversion,  but 
the  manner  in  which  he  said  it  was  still  more  unacceptable.  I  am 
ignorant  of  any  circumstances,  in  our  relative  situations,  which 
could  justify  it;  still,  I  repeat,  that  I  mean"  to  vindicate  myself, 
and  that,  too,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  every  man  within  the 
sound  of  my  voice. 

Mr.  HANNEGAN.     Every  impartial  man. 

Mr.  CASS.  No,  Mr.  President ;  I  will  not  accept  the  qualifica- 
tion suggested  by  my  friend  from  Indiana.  If  my  vindication  is 
not  satisfactory  to  every  man,  partial  or  impartial,  I  will. agree  to 
be  tied  to  the  chariot  wheels  of  the  honorable  senator  from  Miss- 
ouri, and  to  fight  the  battles  of  forty-nine  ;  and  I  hardly  know  tvro 
more  severe  punishments,  that  could  be  inflicted  upon  me. 

The  honorable  senator  says  that  I  came  here  the  other  day  to 
make  a  studied  speech  on  the  subject  of  Oregon.  I  did  so,  sir  ; 
and  he  overates  his  own  powers,  and  underates  the  mental  quali- 


280  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

ties  of  the  members  of  this  body,  who  comes  here  to  give  his  opin- 
ions upon  a  great  national  subject  without  due  preparation.  I  shall 
not  commit  that  folly :  and  I  have  too  much  regard  for  the  intelli- 
gence and  experience  of  the  honorable  senator  to  believe  that  he 
would.  I  presume  that  his  thoughts  are  fully  prepared  upon  every 
grave  topic,  on  which  he  presents  his  views  to  this  body.  But 
however  it  may  have  been  before,  I  have  not  had  much  time  for 
preparation  now,  for  I  uas  not  in  my  seat  yesterday  when  the  hon- 
orable senator  made  his  attack,  and  of  course  I  could  not  know, 
except  from  rumour,  what  he  said  till  this  morning. 

Now,  sir,  what  is  the  subject  in  controversy  between  the  honor- 
able senator  and  myself?  He  says  that  I  am  committed,  by  my 
own  declaration,  to  go  for  forty-nine,  if  it  is  shown  that  commis- 
sioners were  appointed  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  to  establish  that 
parallel  as  a  boundary.  This  assertion  is  the  whole  foundation  of 
his  argument,  upon  which  die  whole  superstructure  rests.  If  the 
one  falls,  the  other  falls  with  it.  Now,  sir,  I  not  only  never  said 
so,  but  the  idea  never  occurred  to  me  ;  I  never  thought  of  it.  And 
the  honorable  gentlemen  has  wholly  misunderstood  me,  either 
through  my  fault  or  his  own. 

He  has  erected  a  fortification  for  me,  and  battered  it  down  with 
"his  own  cannon.  I  choose  to  be  shut  up  in  my  own  defensive 
works  only.  If  these  are  carried  by  siege  or  by  storm,  then  I  will 
surrender.  But  let  me  be  my  own  engineer. 

My  position  was  this,  sir.  Many  of  the  members  upon  this  floor 
contend  that  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees  is  the  northern  bound- 
ary of  our  claim  in  Oregon.  ISome  directly  so,  and  others  because 
it  was  assumed  to  be  such  by  our  government  in  the  early  period 
of  our  controversy  on  this  subject  with  England.  To  us,  there- 
fore, who  believe  that  our  claim  in  Oregon  goes  to  fifty-four  de- 
grees forty  minutes,  it  was  essential  to  show  there  was  an  error  on 
this  subject — that  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  never  extended  to  the 
country  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains. 

Mr.  Greenhow,  in  his  work  on  Oregon,  had  examined  this  ques- 
tion, and  had  endeavored  to  show  that  no  commissioners,  under 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  had  ever  established  any  boundary  between 
the  French  and  Engltsh  possessions  on  this  continent.  So  far  as 
respects  the  general  proposition,  it  is  a  mere  question  of  historical 
authenticity,  not  having  the  slightest  practical  bearing  upon  our  ti- 
tle to  Oregon.  Because,  before  our  title  to  Oregon  could  be  af- 
fected, it  must  be  shown  that  that  line,  if  established  at  all,  must 
have  extended  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains. 

Mr.  Greenhow,  in  his  work,  enters  into  the  question,  and  I  re- 
ferred to  his  book  as  one  entitled  to  talent,  industry  and  caution : 
and  I  requested  gentlemen,  who  had  doubts  on  this  subject,  to  turn 
to  that  work,  and  I  thought  they  would  satisfy  themselves,  that  no 
such  line  had  been  established.  I  did  not  vouch  for  the  facts  or 
conclusions.  I  never  examined  the  general  subject  in  its  extent. 
I  stated,  however,  that  the  result  of  his  discussion  upon  my  mind 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS 


281 


was,  that  such  a  line  had  not  been  run.  I  am  still  under  that  im- 
pression, sir,  and  nothing  that  was  said  yesterday  has  shaken  its 
strength.  Still  I  do  not  hold  myself  at  all  responsible  for  Mr. 
Greenhow's  accuracy.  I  should  investigate  the  subject  with  far 
more  care  than  I  have  done,  if  I  were  to  be  held  responsible  for 
deductions  resting  upon  any  other  man's  assertions. 

The  senator  from  Missouri  says  he  comes  here  not  to  settle  a 
point,  which  can  at  all  influence  the  action  of  this  body,  or  have 
the  slightest  effect  upon  the  termination  of  our  controversy  with 
England.  He  says  he  "makes  no  application  of  this  fact,"  refer- 
ring to  his  proof  that  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  was  established 
somewhere  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  He  says,  "  I  draw  no  argu- 
ment from  it.  I  do  not  apply  it  to  the  question  of  title.  I  am 
not  arguing  title,  and  will  not  do  it ;  but  I  am  vindicating  history, 
assailed  in  a  vital  point  by  the  book  which  has  been  quoted  and 
endorsed.  I  am  vindicating  the  intelligence  of  the  American  Se- 
nate, exposed  to  contempt  in  the  eyes  of  Europe,  by  a  supposed 
ignorance  of  a  treaty  which  is  one  of  the  great  political  landmarks 
in  Europe  and  America,"  &/c. 

The  Senator  will  pardon  me  for  saying  that  this  seems  to  me 
very  much  of  a  tempest  in  a  teapot.  What  does  he  profess  to  vin- 
dicate before  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  ?  Not  the  rights  of 
the  country,  but  the  alleged  truth  of  an  historical  fact,  misrepre- 
sented by  Mr.  Greenhow,  and  vouched  for,  as  the  Senator  thinks, 
by  me.  Now,  sir,  it  seems  to  me,  that  this  solemn  trial,  before 
such  a  court  as  this,  is  hardly  justified  by  the  nature  of  the  accu- 
sation. Here  is  an  historical  error.  Be  it  so.  Nobody  contends 
that  it  affects  our  interests  or  our  honor  in  the  remotest  degree  ; 
no  more  so  than  the  parentage  of  Romulus  and  Remus.  This  is 
not  a  lecture  room.  \Ve  are  neither  professors  nor  students,  as- 
sembled here  to  discuss  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  historical  state- 
ments, which  have  no  relation  to  our  duties.  And  it  seems  to  me, 
also,  that  Europe  will  know  little,  and  care  less,  respecting  this 
grave  controversy,  now  sub  judice,  before  this  high  tribunal.  I 
doubt  if  its  fame  reaches  there.  I  rather  imagine,  that,  in  that 
quarter  of  the  globe,  there  are  other,  if  not  graver,  subjects  to  en- 
gage the  attention  of  both  Governments  and  people,  than  historic 
doubts,  involving  Mr.  Greenhow's  accuracy  and  my  credulity. 

Still,  sir,  as  this  question  is  thus  brought  before  us,  I  shall  pro- 
ceed to  give  a  brief  synopsis  of  it,  and  leave  honorable  Senators 
to  judge  for  themselves.  The  Senator  from  Missouri  has  brought 
forward  three  principal  facts,  to  prove  that  the  parallel  of  49  de- 
grees was  established  by  commissioners  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht. 
The  first  is  a  dispatch  from  Mr.  Madison  to  Mr.  Monroe  ;  the  se- 
cond, a  statement  submitted  by  Mr.  Monroe  to  Lord  Harrowby  ; 
the  third — I  put  them  together,  for  the  honorable  gentleman  has 
joined  them — Postlethwayt's  Dictionary  and  D'Anville's  maps. 

Before  proceeding  further,  sir,  I  beg  to  remark,  that  the  hono- 
rable Senator,  in  quite  a  taunting  tone,  contras-ts  my  investigation 


282  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

of  this  matter  with  his  own.  He  goes  to  the  fountain-head,  the 
authentic  documents,  and  there  finds  the  truth  ;  while  1  go  to  the 
turbid  stream,  an^  am  thence  "led  astray,"  and  thus  have  wander- 
ed into  the  enemy's  camp,  and  have  become  a  prisoner.  And 
what  are  those  authentic  documents  which  the  honorable  Senator 
has  sought  and  found,  and  pored  over  with  the  midnight  lamp,  to 
educe  the  truth?  Why,  Postlethwayt's  Commercial  Dictionary, 
containing  a  map  !  This  is  all,  literally  all ! — a  work  long  since 
referred  to  by  Mr.  Greenhow  in  his  book,  and  examined  by  him. 

Now,  sir,  the  first  reflection  which  strikes  a  man  is  this,  that  if 
this  line  were  thus  established,  the  proof  of  it  might  have  been  got 
forty  years  ago  from  the  archives  of  Paris  or  London.  That  would 
be  positive  and  undeniable  evidence,  and  all  short  of  it  is  incon- 
clusive, and  such  as  no  tribunal  of  justice  would  receive  as  final. 

Before  any  man  assumes  the  existence  of  such  a  line  as  a  bar- 
rier to  his  country's  claims  he  ought  to  prove  it,  not  by  Ipose  de- 
ductions from  loose  historical  notices,  'but  by  an  authentic  copy  of 
the  act  of  the  commissioners. 

But  what  says  Mr.  Madison  ?  The  honorable  Senator  from  Mis- 
souri says,  "the  fact  of  commissaries  having  acted,  was  assumed 
for  certain."  The  language  of  Mr.  Madison  reads  far  otherwise 
to  me.  As  I  stated  the  other  day,  he  speaks  doubtfully  upon  the 
subject ;  and  I  repeat  the  assertion,  notwithstanding  the  contrary 
averment  of  the  Senator  from  Missouri.  "There  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve," said  Mr.  Madison  to  Monroe,  "that  the  boundary  between 
Louisiana  and  the  British  territories  north  of  it  was  actually  fixed 
by  commissaries  appointed  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht." 

He  then  adds,  that  he  sends  a  paper,  containing  the  authority 
respecting  this  al'eged  decision  ;  but  he  adds  cautiously:  "  But 
you  will  perceive  the  necessity  of  recurring  to  the  proceedings  of 
the  commissaries  as  the  source  of  authentic  information.  These 
are  not  within  our  reach  here,  and  it  must  be  left  to  your  own  re- 
searches and  judgment  to  determine  the  proper  use  to  be  made  of 
them."  If  this  is  certainty,  I  should  like  to  know  what  uncer- 
tainty is.  The  honorable  Senator  regrets,  that  I  had  not  looked 
into  the  original  documents,  instead  of  depending  on  Greenhow, 
and  thus  becoming  "his  dupe  and  his  victim" — not  very  courte- 
ous words  these,  by-the-by — and  that  if  I  had  done  so,  I  would 
not  have  said  that  Mr.  Monroe  had  not  added  any  thing  to  Mr. 
Madison's  statement,  and  had  left  the  question  as  doubtful  as  he 
had  found  it.  "  In  point  of  fact,"  says  the  Senator,  "  Mr.  Mon- 
roe added  the  particulars,  of  which  Mr.  Madison  declared  his  ig- 
norance— added  the  beginning,  the  course  and  the  ending  of  the 
line,  and  stated  the  whole  with  the  precision  of  a  man,  who  had 
taken  his  information  from  the  proceedings  of  the  commission- 
ers." 

This  is  to  me  a  strange  view  of  the  matter,  sir.  I  cannot  find 
that  Mr.  Madison  refers  to  any  particulars.  He  certainly  does 
not  use  the  word.  It  is  the  authenticity  of  the  notice,  enclosed 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

by  him,  which  he  desires  Mr.  Monroe  to  ascertain.  What  the 
particulars  were,  contained  in  the  notice,  we  do  not  know,  as  the 
paper  itself  cannot  be  found.  That  notice,  as  I  shall  show,  or 
rather  Greenhow  has  shown,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe,  was 
an  extract  from  Douglass'  History  of  America. 

Before  I  proceed  to  examine  these  particulars,  I  may  be  allow- 
ed to  remark,  that  Mr.  Madison  doubted  with  precisely  the  same 
facts,  which  we  have  before  us — the  map  and  book  referred  to  by 
the  honorable  gentleman.  And  to  this  day,  not  one  single  circum- 
stance has  been  added,  which  could  remove  those  doubts.  Where, 
then,  that  illustrious  man  felt  uncertainty,  I  may  be  permitted  to 
feel  a  greater  degree  of  it,  in  consequence  of  the  direct  and  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  since  discovered,  leading  to  the  presumption 
that  no  such  line  was  established.  But  I  repeat,  sir,  that  in  this 
investigation  I  do  not  profess  to  come  to  any  absolute  conclusion. 
It  is  a  subject  on  which  men  may  differ.  The  result  of  my  ex- 
amination impresses  me  with  the  conviction,  that  no  such  line  was 
established.  Mr.  Monroe  presented  a  memoir  to  Lord  Harrowby, 
the  Secretary  of  State,  and  I  will  now  quote  from  the  gentleman's 
speech  that  part  of  it,  upon  which  he  dwells,  as  showing  "the  be- 
ginning, courses,  and  end  of  the  line,  &c.,  with  the  precision  of 
a  man,  who  had  taken  his  information  from  the  proceedings  of 
the  commissaries."  I  will  quote,  also,  the  statement  of  Douglass, 
the  historian  of  North  America ;  and  no  doubt  can  exist  on  the 
mind  of  any  man,  that  Mr.  Monroe  resorted  to  that  authority  for 
his  statement,  and  not  to  the  original  archives : 

"Commissaries  were  accordingly  ap-  Donglass  says,  page  7:  " By  the  treaty, 

pointed  by  each  Power,  who  executed  however,  the  Canada,  or  French  line, 

the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  in  estab-  with  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  of  Great 

lishing  the  boundaries  proposed  by  it."  Britain,  was  ascertained  from  a  certain 

'•They  fixed  the  northern  boundary  of  promontory  upon  the  Atlantic  ocean  in 

Canada  and  t.ouisiana  by  a  line  begin-  fifty-height    degrees,    thirty    minutes  of 

ning  in  the  Atlantic,  at  a  cape  or  pro-  north  latitude,  to  run  southwest  to  Lake 

montory  in  fifty-eight    degrees,  thirty  Mistissin;  to  be  continued  still  southwest 

minutes  north  latitude;     thence  south-  to    the   forty-ninth    degree,    and  from 

westwardlij  to  the  Lake  Mintissin,  thence  thence  due  west  indefinitely." 
further  soutlnoesFto  the  latitude  of  forty- 
nine  north  from  the  equator,  and  along 
that  line  indefinitely." 

Now,  sir,  the  honorable  Senator  from  Missouri  says  that  Mr. 
Monroe  must  have  taken  his  information  from  the  proceedings  of 
the  commissaries.  No  man  can  doubt  but  that  Mr.  Monroe  quo- 
ted from  Douglass'  book.  The  language  is  so  nearly  identical  as 
to  render  such  a  coincidence  impossible,  if  it  were  accidental. 

The  suggestion  that  Mr.  Monroe  went  to  the  archives  to  pro- 
cure the  particulars,  of  which  "  Mr.  Madison  had  declared  his  ig- 
norance," but  of  which  declaration  I  cannot  find  a  trace,  seems 
to  me  very  extraordinary,  when  we  advert  to  Mr.  Monroe's  report. 
The  proceedings  in  such  a  case  as  this,  establishing  a  boundary 
between  two  great  nations,  extending  over  so  large  a  portion  of 
the  surface  of  the  globe,  were  never  recorded  in  the  language  of 
Mr.  Monroe,  Who  were  the  commissioners  ?  Where  did  they 


284  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

sit?  What  was  the  date  of  their  action?  Where  was  the  con- 
firmation of  their  award  by  their  Governments?  What,  in  fact, 
were  the  points  indicated  ?  "  Beginning  in  the  Atlantic,  at  a  cape 
or  promontory  in  fifty-eight  degrees,  thirty  minutes  north  latitude!" 
A  cape  or  promontory  not  named,  but  to  be  ascertained  by  its  lati- 
tude!  And  if  the  latitude  were  not  correctly  stated,  what  then? 
Suppose  where  that  parallel  struck  the  Atlantic,  there  was  no  cape 
or  promontory  ?  And  would  any  commissioners  assume  such  an 
absolute  knowledge  of  the  topography  of  a  remote  and  barren 
coast,  as  to  make  that  fact  the  basis  of  their  whole  action  !  Valid, 
if  it  were  so;  invalid,  if  it  were  not. 

But  this  loose  language  is  not  confined  to  the  place  of  com- 
mencement. After  leaving  this  "  cape  or  promontory,"  this  terra 
incognita,  the  line  is  to  run  soutJiwestwardly  to  Lake  Mistissin, 
an  indefinite  course,  as  will  be  seen,  and  not  rendered  definite  by 
indicating  what  part  of  the  lake  it  was  to  strike. 

No  reasonable  doubt  can  exist,  but  that  as  Mr.  Monroe  employ- 
ed the  language  of  Douglass,  he  took  the  statement  from  that  his- 
torian. 

Mr.  Monroe,  however,  presented  the  fact  to  Lord  Harrowby, 
and  it  was  not  contradicted  by  him,  so  far  as  we  know. 

From  this  negative  circumstance  the  gentleman  from  Missouri 
draws  the  important  conclusion,  that  the  fact  must  have  been  so. 
I  shall  not  enter  into  this  matter,  as  it  is  not  at  all  important. 

Mr.  Monroe  stated  a  fact  that  had  occurred,  if  it  occurred  at 
all,  a  century  before.  It  had  in  reality  little,  if  any,  bearing  upon 
the  subject  he  was  urging,  which  was  the  right  of  the  United 
States  to  "  possess  the  territory  lying  between  the  lakes  and  the 
Mississippi,  south  of  the  parallel  of  the  forty-ninth  degree  of  lati- 
tude." 

It  was  to  the  treaty  of  1783,  that  he  was  referring,  and  to  Mitch- 
ell's map,  by  which  it  was  formed.  He  adverts  to  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht  by  saying  that  "  by  running  due  west  from  the  northwest- 
ern point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Mississippi,  according 
to  the  treaty  of  1783,  it  must  have  been  intended,  according  to 
the  lights  before  them,  to  take  the  parallel  of  the  forty-ninth  de- 
gree of  latitude,  as  established  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht." 

Now,  sir,  it  might  well  be  that  Lord  Harrowby  never  consider- 
ed it  necessary  to  look  into  this  alleged  fact,  as  it  had  no  real  bear- 
ing on  the  subject,  being  alluded  to  merely  as  giving  reasons, 
which  may  have  influenced  the  commissioners  in  fixing  the  bound- 
aries of  1783. 

Most  certainly  his  silence,  under  such  circumstances,  furnishes 
no  solid  proof — scarcely,  I  may  say,  a  light  presumption — in  favor 
of  this  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees. 

The  next  proof  of  the  establishment  of  this  line  given  by  the 
Senator,  was  Postlethwayt's  Commercial  Dictionary,  with  D'An- 
ville's  map.  There  is  no  quotation  from  the  dictionary,  and  the 
matter,  therefore,  rests  on  the  map  alone. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  285 

The  Senator  then  pointed  out  the  line  established  under  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht,  and  read  the  account  of  it  as  given  in  a  note  on 
the  upper  left-hand  corner  of  the  map.  The  description  was  in 
these  words : 

"  The  line  that  parts  French  Canada  from  British  Canada  was 
settled  by  commissaries  after  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  making  a 
course  from  Davis' s  Inlet,  on  the  Atlantic  sea,  down  to  the  forty- 
ninth  degree,  through  the  Lake  Abitilis,  to  the  Northern  Ocean ; 
therefore  Mr.  D'Anville's  dotted  line  east  of  James's  Bay,  is 
false." 

The  Senator  then  states  that  this  map  was  "  made  by  D'Anville, 
the  great  French  geographer  of  his  age,  and  dedicated  to  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,"  &,c.,  &c.;  and  he  adds,  it  is  the  "  authentic 
French  testimony  in  favor  of  the  line  of  Utrecht." 

Now,  sir,  it  is  not  a  little  curious,  that  this  map,  thus  authorita- 
tively pronounced  to  be  authentic,  is  upon  the  very  face  of  it  sta- 
ted to  be  false  in  one  important  particular.  What,  then,  becomes 
of  the  correctness  of  the  assertion  of  the  honorable  Senator,  and 
of  the  certainty  of  this  testimony  1 

If  wrong  in  one  respect,  it  may  be  so  in  others,  and  at  any  rate 
our  faith  in  its  pretensions  is  entirely  shaken.  But  I  do  not  un- 
derstand by  whom  this  note  was  written :  evidently  not  by  D'An- 
ville, for  it  impugns  his  own  work.  We  have  not,  therefore,  D'An- 
ville's authority  for  this  line,  as  being  established  under  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht.  He  marks  the  line  upon  his  map,  but  whence  his  au- 
thority for  it  is  left  to  conjecture.* 

One  other  point,  sir.  The  honorable  Senator  states,  that  in  an 
attempted  negotiation  with  the  British  Government,  during  Mr. 
Jefferson's  administration,  two  articles  were  proposed — one  by  the 
American  commissioners,  and  one  by  the  British — for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  boundary  between  our  country  and  Canada,  from 
the  northwestern  point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  The  articles 

*  Such  were  tlie  results  suggested  to  me  at  the  moment,  naturally  arising  from  the  cir- 
cumstances. Taking  the  map  to  be  D'Anville's,  as  I  uuderstood  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Missouri  to  state,  I  could  not  comprehend  by  whom  it  was  discredited  ;  a*  surely  the 
French  geographer  would  not  have  impugned  his  own  work.  From  tlie  existence  «f  an 
acknowledged  error,  I  deduced  the  conclusion  that  the  map  was  not  entitled  to  be  coneid- 
eieil  "  as  the  authentic  Kiench  testimony  in  fav«.>r  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht." 

What,  however,  I  did  not  understand  then,  I  understand  now.  In  conversation  with 
Col.  Benton  since,  lie  has  informed  me  that  this  map  is  not  the  original  work  of  U'Anville, 
but  an  English  edition  of  it,  by  Bolton,  with  alterations. 

This  fact,  of  course,  destroys  the  entire  value  if  the  map  as  authentic  testimony.  Bol- 
ton, in  the  above  note,  does  not  state  that  the  parallel  of  fort, -nine  degrees  us  a  boundary 
•was  marked  upon  D'Anville's  map.  This  English  edition  was  published  in  London  in 
17?2,  as  great'y  improved  by  John  Bolton.  Mr.  Greenhow,  who  has  examined  D'Anville's 
original  work,  states,  in  an  urticle  published  in  the  Union,  April  3,  1846,  that  neither  the 
parallel  of  Jorty-nine  degrees  as  a  boundary  between  Canada  and  the  Hudson's  Bay  territo- 
ries, nor  any  nihrr  line  pafjing  through  the  same  portion  of  the  continent,  is  to  be  found  on  the 
real  map  of  D'Jlnville. 

He  states  that  the  French  geographer  upon  his  map  carried  the  boundary  of  the  French 
and  British  possessions  to  the  dividing  land  between  the  waters  of  the  ocean  and  those  of 
Uie  lakes  and  of  the  Mississippi  ;  giving  to  France  the  whole  country  west  of  the  moun- 
tains, including  that  situated  upon  tlie  Alabama  and  its  tributaries,  He  says  Bolton  im- 
proved upon  this  boundary,  by  carrying  the  British  line  to  the  forty-ninth  parallel ;  and  if 
so,  then  what  becomes  of  this  "  authentic  French  testimony,  in  favor  of  the  line  of 
Utrecht— that  line  upon  which  the  Senator  from  Michigan  lias  staked  the  reversal  of  his 
Oregon  position  ?" 


286  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  CASS. 

are  substantially  the  same,  but  with  the  difference  which  an  exami- 
nation of  them  will  show. 

The  American  projct  provided : 

"That  a  line  drawn  due  north  or  south  (as  the  case  may  re- 
quire) from  the  northwestern  point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  un- 
til it  shall  intersect  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and 
with  the  said  parallel  shall  be  the  southern  boundary  of  his  Ma- 
jesty's territories,  and  the  northern  boundary  of  the  said  territo- 
ries of  the  United  States." 

The  British  pro  jet,  after  providing  for  the  running  of  a  line 
north  or  south,  as  might  be,  from  the  northwestern  point  of  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees,  provides 
that  the  "said  parallel  shall  be  the  dividing  line  between  his  Ma- 
jesty's territories  and  those  of  the  United  States  to  the  westward 
of  the  said  lake,  as  far  as  their  respective  territories  extend  in  that 
quarter ;  and  that  the  said  line  shall  to  that  extent  form  the  south- 
ern boundary  of  his  Majesty's  said  territories,  and  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  said  territories  of  the  United  States." 

Each  of  these  projets  contains  the  same  proviso,  "  That  nothing 
in  the  present  article  shall  be  construed  to  extend  to  the  northwest 
coast  of  America,  or  to  the  territories  belonging  to,  or  claimed 
by,  either  party,  on  the  continent  of  America  west  of  the  Stoney 
Mountains." 

The  Senator  exclaimed  triumphantly,  "  Here  is  concurrence  in 
the  proceedings  of  commissaries  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht." 
"Here  is  submission  to  that  treaty  on  the  part  of  the  British,"  &/c. 

In  the  first  place,  sir,  allow  me  to  remark  that  this  was  a  mere 
projet,  and  that  no  treaty  was  made  on  the  subject  till  eleven  years 
afterwards,  in  1818.  Now,  what  is  meant  by  "concurrence" 
here  ?  If  accidental  coincidence,  the  matter  is  not  worthy  of  fur- 
ther inquiry.  But  if  by  "concurrence"  is  meant  that  thif  lino 
was  actually  established  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  and  thus  bind- 
ing on  the  parties,  no  other  convention  was  necessary.  Both  na- 
tions, upon  this  assumption,  mistook  their  own  rights  and  their 
duties.  The  boundary  had  been  established  a  century  before,  and 
they  were  carrying  on  a  useless  and  barren  negotiation,  which  was 
thus  blindly  and  unnecessarily  ripened  into  a  treaty  in  1718.  But, 
sir,  the  Senator  proceeds  to  ask  what  Mr.  Jefferson  did  with  this 
projct,  and  adds,  that  he  rejected  it.  And  why,  sir?  The  letter 
from  Mr.  Madison  to  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney,  dated  July 
30th,  1807,  states: 

"  The  modification  of  the  fifth  article  (noted  as  one  which  the 
British  commissioners  would  have  agreed  to)  may  be  admitted  in 
case  that  proposed  by  you  to  them  be  not  attainable.  But  it  is 
much  to  be  wished  and  pressed,  though  not  made  an  ultimatum, 
that  the  proviso  to  both  should  be  omitted.  This  is,  in  no  view 
•whatever,  necessary,  and  can  have  little  other  effect  than  as  an  of- 
fensive intimation  to  Spain  that  our  claims  extend  to  the  Pacific 
ocean.  However  reasonable  such  claims  may  be,  compared  with 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 


287 


those  of  others,  it  is  impolitic,  especially  at  the  present  moment, 
to  strengthen  Spanish  jealousies  of  the  United  States,  which  it  is 
probably  an  object  with  Great  Britain  to  excite  by  the  clause  in 
question." 

Now,  sir,  Mr.  Jefferson's  object  was  not  to  offend  Spain,  and 
therefore  he  rejects  a  proviso,  which  expressly  limits  our  claim  to 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  in  order  not  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  a 
most  jealous  nation,  by  even  the  appearance  of  interfering  with 
her  rights ;  and  yet  the  honorable  Senator  supposes  that  this,very 
treaty,  without  the  proviso,  was  to  run  to  the  Pacific,  claiming  for 
us  and  England  the  whole  country.  And  which  would  excite  the 
jealousy  of  Spain  most  ?  To  say  expressly  the  American  Govern- 
ment will  make  no  arrangement  with  that  of  England  for  pushing 
the  American  title  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  or  to  form  a 
treaty  actually  carrying  this  claim  there  without  regard  to  Spanish 
rights?  It  is  obvious  to  me,  that  Mr.  Jefferson  did  not  believe  in- 

*  (  * 

the  English  title  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  as  far  as  the  Paci- 
fic; and,  therefore,  making  a  treaty  with  that  Power  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  boundary  between  her  and  the  United  States  would 
not  justly  give  offence  to  Spain,  as  it  would  not  call  in  question 
Spanish  rights. 

The  honorable  gentleman  has  not  said  one  word  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, in  which  I  do  riot  heartily  concur.  An  abler  or  a  purer  states- 
man is  rarely  to  be  found  in  history.  Time,  which  tries  the  fame 
of  all  men,  and  reduces  the  fame  of  most  men,  is  rendering  his 
brighter  and  brighter ;  and  we  have  scarcely  a  name  in  history — 
certainly  but  one — which  is  more  revered  by  the  American  peo- 
ple, as  that  of  a  pure  patriot  and  a  consummate  statesman.  The 
honorable  Senator  will  please  to  recollect,  that  this  projet  of  Mr. 
Jefferson,  under  any  circumstances,  proves  nothing,  because — 

1.  It  was  never  carried  into  effect ; 

2.  It  was  before  the  Florida  treaty,  by  which  we  acquired  the 
Spanish  title ; 

3.  It  was  formed  under  the  impression,  now  shown  to  be  an  er- 
roneous one,  that  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees  had  been  estab- 
lished,  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  as  the  northern  boundary  of 
Louisiana,  extending  to  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

But  after  all,  our  rights  remain  as  they  were;  and  the  opinions 
of  such  able  and  honest  men  as  Mr.  Jefferson,  Mr.  Madison,  and 
Mr.  Monroe,  whatever  those  opinions  may  have  been,  though  en- 
titled to  very  grave  consideration,  still  leave  the  Government  per- 
fectly free  and  unembarrassed  by  a  projet  proposed  by  them,  but 
finally  abandoned.  Though,  upon  the  assumption  that  the  north- 
ern boundary  of  Louisiana  was  fixed  by  commissaries  under  the 
parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees,  I  cannot  understand  why  the  par- 
ties negotiated  at  all ;  and  though  I  see  no  evidence,  that  the  line 
proposed  was  intended  as  the  recognition  of  an  English  title  west 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  to  the  exclusion  of  Spain,  but  the  con- 
trary ;  yet  I  have  such  an  abiding  confidence  in  each  of  those 


288  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

statesmen,  that  I  am  fully  satisfied  the  apparent  facts  within  their 
reach  justified  their  course,  whatever  that  was  intended  to  be. 

But,  sir,  what  are  the  circumstances  wliich  render  doubtful — I 
might  say  discredit — the  establishment  of  this  parallel  of  forty- 
nine  degrees  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  ?  I  will  refer  here  to  a 
portion  of  an  article  published  in  the  Union,  February  24,  1846, 
and  written  by  Mr.  Greenhow  : 

"On  the  other  hand,  Mitchell's  large  map  of  America,  publish- 
ed in  1755,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Colonial  Department  of 
Great  Britain,  which  was  consulted  and  adopted  as  authority  by 
the  British  and  American  Plenipotentiaries  in  regulating  the  lim- 
its of  the  United  States,  in  the  treaty  of  1783,  presents  a  line 
drawn  along  the  highlands  separating  the  waters  flowing  into  Hud- 
son's Bay  from  those  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  lakes,  as  the 
'  boundary  of  Hudson's  Bay  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht ;'  and  the 
same  line  appear?  on  the  map  of  America,  in  Smollett's  History 
of  England,  published  in  1760;  on  that  of  Bennett,  in  1770;  on 
that  of  Faden  in  1777;  and  on  some  other  maps  of  that  time. 

"  In  contradiction  of  all  these  opinions,  no  line  of  separation 
whatsoever  between  the  Hudson's  Bay  territories  and  the  French 
possessions,  is  to  be  found  on  the  large  and  beautiful  map  of  Ame- 
rica, by  Popple,  published  in  1738,  (also  under  the  patronage  of 
the  Colonial  Department,)  and  bearing  the  certificate  of  Dr.  Hal- 
ley  to  its  correctness ;  nor  on  any  map  in  the  Atlas  of  Maxwell 
and  Senex,  published  in  1621  ;  in  Boyer's  Political  State,  1721; 
in  the  History  of  Hudson's  Bay  by  Dobbs,  the  Governor  of  that 
territory,  1744;  in  the  Histoire  de.la  Nouvelle  France,  by  Charle- 
voix,  1744  ;  in  the  System  of  Geography,  by  Bowen,  1747;  in  the 
American  Traveller,  1709;  in  the  American  Atlas,  by  Jeffries, 
1778 ;  in  the  History  of  the  French  Dominions  in  America,  by 
Jeffries,  1760;  nor  in  the  map  of  America,  from  the  materials  by 
Governor  Pownal,  in  1794:  nor  is  there  any  allusion  to  such  a 
line  in  the  works  to  which  these  maps  are  attached,  or  in  any  otherv 
work  or  map  of  reputation  published  during  the  last  century,  save 
those  above  mentioned. 

"  None  of  the  works  above  mentioned  are  authorities  on  the 
subject,  proceeding,  as  they  all  do,  from  persons  unconnected  with 
the  transactions  of  the  Utrecht  treaty,  and  possessing  no  better 
means,  so  far  as  known,  of  information  respecting  them  than  other 
people;  they,  indeed,  only  show  that  the  boundary  was  supposed 
by  some  persons  to  have  been  so  settled  at  the  time  when  they 
were  written. 

"  Of  the  works,  which  may  be  considered  as  authorities,  the 
following,  comprising,  it  is  believed,  all  in  which  a  record  or  no- 
tice of  such  a  transaction,  if  it  had  taken  place,  should  be  found, 
are  entirely  silent  with  regard  to  any  decision  or  other  act  of  com- 
missaries appointed  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  to  settle  the  line 
of  separation  between  the  Hudson  Bay  territories  and  the  French 
possessions,  viz  :  the  Collections  of  Treaties  by  Dumont,  Boyer, 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  289 

Martens,  Jenkinson,  Herstlet,  and  others:  Actes,  Memoires,  &>c., 
concernant  la  Paix  d'Utrecht,  1716,  and  Actes,  Negociations,  &,c., 
depuis  la  Paix  d'Utrecht,  1745,  two  voluminous  works,   contain- 
ing, it  may  be  supposed,   every  public  document,  and  notice  of 
every  act  connected  with  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht, 
and  the  consequent  proceedings ;  Collection  des  Edits,  Ordonnan- 
ces,  &/c.,  concernant  le  Canada,  Quebec,  1803,  apparently  a  com- 
plete assemblage  of  all  the  most  important  public  documents  rela- 
tive to  Canada  and  the  fur  trade ;    Memoires  des   Commissaires 
Franrjcais  et  Anglais,  sur  les  Possessions  des  deux  Couronnes  en 
Amerique,  1754  to  1757,  which  could  not  have  thu's  omitted  to 
notice  this   settlement  of  boundaries,  if  it  had  taken  place ;  the 
Histoire  de  la  Diplomatic  Franeaise,  by  Flassan,   1811,  and  the 
Histoire  des  Traites  de  Paix,  by  Koch   and  Schoell,  1817.     To 
these  authorities  may  be  added,  as  equally  silent  on  the  subject, 
the  Histories  of  England  by  Tindall,  Smollett,  Belsham,  Hughes, 
Mahon,  Wade,  the  Parliamentary  History,  and  the  Pictorial  His- 
tory ;  the  Histories  of  France,  by  Sismondi,  Anquetil,  and  Lacre- 
telle ;  Lord  John  Russell's   Affairs  of  Europe  since  the  Peace  of 
Utrecht ;  the  Histories  of,  and  Memoirs  on,  Louisiana,  by  Dumont, 
Dupraix,  Vergennes,  and  Marbois ;  the  political  works  of  Swift, 
Bolingbroke,  and  Voltaire ;  and  many  other  works  relating  to  the 
history  of  the  period  at  which  this  settlement  of  the  northern  limit 
of  Louisiana  is  said  to  have  been  made. 

"This  is  all  negative  evidence,  indeed;  but  it  is  the  only  evi- 
dence of  which  the  case  admits,  and  is  equivalent  to  a  positive 
contradiction  of  the  supposition  that  any  settlement  of  boundaries 
between  the  Hudson  Bay  territory  and  the  French  possessions  was- 
made  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht ;  as  such  a  transaction  could 
not  have  escaped  notice  in  all,  or  indeed  in  any,  of  the  works  men- 
tioned in  the  preceding  paragraph,  if  it  had  taken  place,  and  es- 
pecially if  it  had  been  so  notorious  as  the  knowledge  of  it  by  those 
who  asserted  it  would  seern  to  indicate.  It  will  be  said  that  there 
must  have  been  some  foundation  for  the  assertion ;  and  possibly 
such  a  line  may  have  been  proposed,  and  made  the  subject  of  dis- 
cussion between  the  two  Governments  in  1718,  as  a  part  of  it  was, 
a  hundred  years  after,  between  one  of  them  and  the  United  States. 
That  commissaries  were  appointed  to  settle  boundaries,  under  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht,  is  most  probable ;  and,  in  proof  not  only  of  their 
meeting,  but  also  of  their  separation  without  effecting  any  of  the 
objects  proposed,  the  following  passage  appears  in  the  Histoire  de 
la  Nouvelle  France,  by  Charlevoix  :  '  France  took  no  part  in  this 
dispute,  (between  the  British  and  Indians  in  Nova  Scotia,  in  1722,) 
in  order  to  avoid  giving  the  slightest  pretext  for  interrupting  the 
good  understanding  between  the  two  nations,  which  had  been  re- 
stored with  so  much  difficulty;  even  the  negotiations  between  the 
two  Courts  for  the  settlement  of  boundaries  ceased,  although  com- 
missaries had  been  appointed  on  both  sides,  for  that  object,  since 
1719.  Anderson,  in  his  History  of  Commerce,  and  Macpherson. 

19 


290  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  CASS. 

in  his  Annals  of  Commerce,  both  positively  deny  that  any  bound- 
aries were  settled  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht." 

In  addition  to  the  facts  above  stated,  I  will  add  another  short 
paragraph,  which  was  handed  to  me  by  my  friend  [Mr.  HANNE- 
GAN]  since  I  came  here  to-day.  I  have  not  had  time  to  advert  to 
the  original,  but  I  presume  it  is  correct. 

"In  De  Mofras's  book,  the  official  exposition  by  the  French  Go- 
vernment of  the  grounds  of  the  English  claims  to  the  Oregon  ter- 
ritory, and  its  own  former  pretensions  to  that  region,  it  is  said, 
vol.  ii.  p.  158  : 

'"It  was  agreed,  at  the  peace  of  1713,  and  by  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht,  that  commissioners  should  meet  to  trace  with  precision, 
to  the  north  and  the  west,  the  limits  between  the  Hudson  Bay 
country  and  New  France,  and  to  the  south,  the  boundaries  be- 
tween that  province  and  the  English  possessions.  Nevertheless, 
there  does  not  exist  in  any  written  record,  nor  in  any  maps  or 
charts,  a  single  document  showing  that  these  frontiers  ever  were 
definitely  established.  And,  in  1722,  all  proceedings  on  this  sub- 
ject had  been  abandoned,  according  to  Father  Charlevoix,  that  not 
the  least  pretext  might  be  given  to  violate  the  good  understanding, 
which  it  had  been  found  so  difficult  to  establish  between  the  two 
crowns  of  France  and  England.  The  archives  of  the  office  of 
Foreign  Affairs  contain  no  chart  or  memoir  relating  to  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht,  regarding  these  frontiers,  nor  do  those  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Marine ;  and  thus  the  assertion  of  Charlevoix  is  fully  sus- 
tained.' 

"  The  reference  is  to  Charlevoix's  New  France,  vol.  iv.  p.  124, 
and  the  top  of  the  page."* 

Now,  sir,  I  shall  pursue  this  investigation  no  further.  I  have 
already  observed  that,  whether  this  line  was  established  or  not  east 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  is  not  of  the  slightest  importance.  The 
position  that  I  occupied  in  my  speech,  and  that  I  occupy  now,  is 
this :  It  is  contended  in  the  Senate,  and  out  of  it,  that  the  paral- 
lel of  forty-nine  is  our  northern  boundary  in  the  territory  of  Ore- 
gon, and  that  it  was  assumed  as  such  by  our  Government  in  the 
early  part  of  the  controversy,  and  so  maintained  for  some  years : 
and  that  we  are,  therefore,  concluded  against  the  assertion  of  any 
other  boundary-  Now,  sir,  my  object  was  to  show,  that  no  such 
line  was  ever  established  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  in  the  Oregon 
country,  and  that  we  were,  therefore,  free  to  urge  our  pretensions, 
without  regard  to  this  statement,  or  to  the  acts  of  our  Government, 
founded  upon  an  erroneous  impression,  that  the  line  of  forty-nine 

*  The  following  it  the  remark  of  Father  Charjevoix,  referred  to  above  : 
"  France  took  no  part  in  this  quarrel,"  (speaking  of  some  disputes  botweeu  the  English 
and  the  Indians,)  "  so  as  not  to  give  the  Itast  pretext  to  break  the  good  understanding, 
which  it  had  cost  so  much  to  establish,  between  the  two  Crowns.  The  negotiations  be- 
tween the  two  courts  for  the  establishment  of  boundaries  ceased  ;  although  commissioners 
had  been  appointed  on  both  sides  ever  since  the  year  1719." 

This  was  written  in  1743.  'J  he  author  was  the  well  known  traveller  sent  out  by  the 
French  Government  to  explore  and  describe  their  possessions  in  North  America  ;  a  task 
which  he  executed  with  equal  judgment  and  accuracy.  Great  weight  is  due  to  his  au- 
thority. 


LIFE    OF    GF.NERAL    CASS.  291 

degrees  did  extend  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  This  is  what  I  under- 
took to  disprove,  and  nothing  but  this.  And  I  will  now  ask  tie 
honorable  Senator  from  Missouri  if  he  believes  that  the  parallel 
of  forty-nine  was  ever  established  by  commissaries  under  the  trea- 
ty of  Utrecht,  as  a  boundary  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  ?  I 
will  wait  for  the  honorable  gentleman's  reply. 

[Here  Mr.  CASS  paused  for  a  short  time ;  but  Mr.  BENTON  not 
answering,  he  continued.] 

Well,  the  honorable  gentleman  does  not  answer  me.  If  he  be- 
lieved the  line  run  there,  I  am  sure  he  would  say  so;  for,  if  it  did 
not  run  there,  we  are  forever  foreclosed  from  any  claim  under  the 
Louisiana  treaty,  and  the  force  of  the  honorable  gentleman's  attack 
upon  me  would  be  greatly  strengthened.  As  he  does  not  answer,  I 
shall  take  it  for  granted  that  he  believes  no  such  line  was  ever  estab- 
lished there.  And  if  the  fact  is  so,  my  object  is  answered,  and  we 
are  relieved  from  the  embarrassments  arising  out  of  the  repeated 
assertions  that  the  line  of  49  degrees  is  our  northern  boundary  in 
the  territory  of  Oregon.  T  will  now  read  to  the  honorable  Sena- 
tor what  I  said  the  other  day  on  this  subject,  and  he  will  perceive 
how  much  he  has  misapprehended  me,  and  that  all  my  allusion  to 
the  parallel  of  49  degrees  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains  was  a  mere 
incidental  topic,  having  no  bearing  upon  my  actual  position.  What 
I  did  say  is  this  :  "The  treaty  of  Utrecht  never  refers  to  the  paral- 
lel of  49  degrees,  and  the  boundaries  it  proposed  to  establish  were 
those  between  the  French  and  English  colonies,  including  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  in  Canada.  The  charter  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company  granted  to  the  proprietors  all  the  "lands,  countries, 
and  territories,  "upon  the  waters  discharging  themselves  into  Hud- 
son's Bay. 

"At  the  date  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  which  was  in  1713,  Great 
Britain  claimed  nothing  west  of  those  "lands,  countries,  and  ter- 
ritories," and  of  course  there  was  nothing  to  divide  between 
France  and  England  west  of  that  line.  Again,  in  1713,  the  north- 
western coast  was  almost  a  terra  incognita,  a  blank  upon  the  map 
of  the  world.  England  then  neither  knew  a  foot  of  it,  nor  claim- 
ed a  foot  of  it.  By  adverting  to  the  letter  of  Messrs.  Gallatin  and 
Rush,  communicating  an  account  of  their  interview  with  Messrs. 
Goulburn  and  Robinson,  British  commissioners,  dated  October 
20th,  1818,  and  to  the  letter  of  Mr.  Pakenham  to  Mr.  Buchanan, 
dated  September  12th,  1844,  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  commence- 
ment of  the  British  claim  is  effectively  limited  to  the  discoveries 
of  Captain  Cook,  in  1778.  How  then  could  a  boundary  have 
been  established  fifty  years  before,  in  a  region  where  no  English- 
man had  ever  penetrated,  and  to  which  England  had  never  asserted 
a  pretension  ?  And  yet  the  assumption  that  the  parallel  of  49  de- 
grees was  established  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  as  a  line  between 
France  and-  England,  in  those  unknown  regions,  necessarily  in- 
volves these  inconsistent  conclusions.  But  besides,  if  England, 
as  a  party  to  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  established  this  line,  running 


292  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

to  the  Western  ocean,  as  the  northern  boundary  of  Louisiana, 
what  possible  claim  has  she  now  south  of  that  line?  The  very 
fact  of  her  existing  pretensions,  however  unfounded  these  may  be 
shows  that  she  considers  herself  no  party  to  such  a  line  of  division. 
It  shows,  in  fact,  that  no  line  was  run;  for  if  it  had  been,  the  evi- 
dence of  it  would  be  in  the  English  archives,  and,  in  truth,  would 
be  known  to  the  world  without  contradiction."  This  is  what  I 
said;  and  this  was  followed  by  the  synopsis  of  my  views  upon  the 
subject,  which  I  read,  and  which  I  will  read  again  : 

1.  It  is  not  shown  that  any  line  was  established  on  the  parallel 
of  49  degrees  to  the  Pacific  ocean. 

• 

2.  The  country  on  the  northwestern  coast  was  then  unknown, 
and  I  believe  unclaimed  ;    or,  at  any  rate,  no  circumstances  had 
arisen  to  call  in  question  any  claim  to  it. 

3.  The  British  negotiators  in  1818,  and  their  Minister  here  in 
1844,  fixed  upon  the  voyage  of  Captain   Cook,  in  1778,   as  the 
commencement  of  the  British  title  in  what  is  now  called  Oregon. 

4.  The  treaty  of  Utrecht  provides  for  the  establishment  of  a  line 
between  the  French  and  British  colonies,   including  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company.     The  British  held  nothing  west  of  the  company's 
possessions,  which,  by  the  charter,  included  only  the  "lands,  coun- 
tries, and  territories/'  on  the  waters  running  into  Hudson's  Bay. 

5.  If  England  established  this  line  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  she  can 
have  no  claim  south  of  it ;  and  this  kind  of  argument,  ad  hominem, 
becomes  conclusive.     And  let  me  add,  that  I  owe  this  argument 
to  my  friend  from  Missouri,   [Mr.  ATCIIISON,]  to  whose  remarks 
upon  Oregon  the  Senate  listened  with  pleasure  and  with  profit  some 
days  since. 

6.  How  could  France  and  England  claim  the  country  to  the  Pa- 
cific, so  as  to   divide  it  between  them  in  1713,  when,   as  late  as 
1790,  the  British  Government,  by  the  Nootka  convention,  expressly 
recognized  the  Spanish  title  to  that  country,  and  claimed  only  the 
use  of  it  for  its  own  subjects,  in  common  with  those  of  Spain. 

I  am  now,  sir,  brought  to  the  annunciation,  which  I  made,  and 
which  the  honorable  Senator  has  so  strangely  misunderstood.  What 
I  said,  was  this — I  will  repeat  it  in  the  very  words  I  used  upon  the 
former  occasion :  "  I  now  ask,  sir,  what  right  has  any  American 
statesman,  or  what  right  has  any  British  statesman,  to  contend 
that  our  claim,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  not  just  as  good  north  of  this 
line  as  it  is  south  of  it  ?  When  this  question  is  answered  to  my 
satisfaction,  I,  for  one,  will  consent  to  stop  there.  But  until  then, 
I  am  among  those  who  mean  to  march,  if  we  can,  to  the  Russian 
boundary." 

This,  sir,  is  my  position.  How  different  it  is  from  the  position 
assigned  to  me  by  the  honorable  Senator,  I  need  not  say.  I  trust 
I  have  redeemed  myself,  and  that  I  can  again  enter  into  the  con- 
test, a  free  man,  battling  for  the  full  rights  of  his  country,  even  to 
54  degrees  40  minutes. 

The  discussion  of  this  question  was  continued  through  sixty-five 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  293 

days  of  the  session.  On  the  16th  of  April,  Mr.  Allen  moved  that 
the  resolution  under  debate,  with  the  amendments,  be  laid  on  the 
table,  with  the  view  of  taking  up  for  consideration  the  preamble 
and  resolution  relating  to  the  same  subject,  which  had  passed  the 
House  of  Representatives  and  been  sent  to  the  Senate  for  concur- 
rence. The  motion  was  agreed  to,  and  the  Senate  proceeded  to 
consider  the  House  resolution.  It  was  amended  in  the  Senate,  by 
prefixing  to  it  a  preamble,  and  by  changing  it  from  a  peremptory 
and  explicit  authority  to  the  President  to  terminate  the  convention, 
to  a  discretionary  one.  The  House  of  Representatives  did  not  con- 
cur in  the  amendments,  nor  subsequently,  upon  the  report  of  com- 
mittees of  conferences  of  both  Houses,  was  an  agreement  effected. 

In  May,  following,  the  subject  of  extending  the  jurisdiction  over 
the  territory  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  being  under  considera- 
tion in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Benton  again  opened  the  question  of  the 
title  of  the  United  States  to  the  Oregon  territory.  In  the  course 
of  his  speech,  he  attempted  to  controvert  the  statements  of  Gen. 
Cass,  formerly  made  in  regard  to  the  boundary  line  running  along 
the  parallel  of  54  degrees  and  40  minutes. 

In  reply  Gen.  CBSS  addressed  the  Senate,  examining  and  dis- 
cussing the  objections  raised  by  his  powerful  antagonist,  sustain- 
ing, by  his  masterly  argument  and  irrefragable  proofs,  the  cor- 
rectness of  his  own  statements  and  clearly  pointing  out  the  errors 
of  his  opponent. 

Gen.  Cass,  foreseeing  the  approach  of  a  crisis  in  the  vexed  questions 
between  the  United  States  and  England,  which  might  involve  the 
two  countries  in  a  war,  and  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  being 
prepared  to  meet  any  contingency  that  might  happen,  introduced 
at  an  early  period  in  the  session,  prior  to  the  discussion  of  the 
Oregon  question,  resolutions,  instructing  the  committee  of  the  Sen- 
ate on  military  affairs  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  national 
fortifications  and  of  their  armaments,  and  whether  other  defencive 
works  were  necessary;  and  into  the  condition  and  quantity  of  the 
military  supplies ;  and  into  the  state  of  the  means  possessed  by  the 
government  for  the  defence  of  the  country  ;  and  also  instructing 
the  committee  on  the  militia  to  inquire  into  the  present  condition 
of  that  great  branch  of  the  public  service,  and  into  the  state  of  the 
militia  laws ;  and  that  they  be  further  instructed  to  report  such 


294  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

changes  in  the  existing  system  as  will  give  more  experience  and 
efficiency  to  thai  arm  of  defence,  and  will  place  it  in  the  best  con- 
dition for  protecting  the  country  should  it  be  exposed  to  foreign 
invasion ;  and  that  the  committee  on  na/al  affairs  inquire  into  the 
condition  of  the  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  into  the  quantity 
and  condition  of  the  naval  supplies  on  hand,  and  whether  an  in- 
crease of  them  was  not  necessary  to  the  efficient  operations  of  the 
navy,  and  to  its  preservation  and  augmentation  ;  and,  generally, 
into  its  capacity  for  defending  our  coast  and  our  commerce,  and 
for  any  service  the  exigencies  of  the  country  might  probably  require. 
Gen.  Cass  advocated  the  adoption  of  these  resolutions  at  length. 
He  said : 

It  was  impossible  to  peruse  the  President's  message,  and  to  ob- 
serve the  indications  of  public  sentiment  which  are  crowding  upon 
us  from  every  quarter,  without  being  aware  that  a  crisis  is  fast  ap- 
proaching in  the  intercourse  between  this  country  and  Great  Bri- 
tain, which  demands  the  serious  consideration,  and  may  require 
the  cordial  and  active  co-operation,  of  the  whole  American  people. 
The  President  has  told  us  that  the  negotiations  respecting  Oregon, 
if  they  have  not  reached  a  close,  have,  at  any  rate,  reached  a  po- 
sition almost  equivalent  to  it.  The  claims  of  the  respective  nations 
are  utterly  irreconcileable ;  and  a  compromise,  by  a  voluntary  sac- 
rifice of  a  portion  of  their  pretensions  by  one  party,  or  by  both,  or 
a  submission  of  the  whole  matter  in  controversy  to  some  foreign 
power,  seem  the  only  alternative  by  which  peace  can  be  preserved. 

Our  government  has  already  declined  to  submit  our  rights  to 
foreign  arbitration.  That  is  a  process  which,  under  equal  circum- 
stances, may  well  be  adopted  by  independent  nations  to  terminate 
disputes,  which  would  otherwise  seek  the  arbitrament  of  war.  It 
preserves  the  honor  of  both  parties,  and  ought  to  preserve  the  just 
interests  of  both.  It  substitutes  reason  for  force,  and  is  therefore 
suited  to  the  advancing  opinions  of  the  age,  and  to  the  duties  and 
feelings  of  Christian  communities.  But  these  equal  circumstances 
do  not  exist  in  our  present  dispute  with  England.  There  are  ob- 
vious considerations,  into  which  I  need  not  enter  here,  growing 
out  of  the  relative  situation  of  that  country  and  of  ours,  with  those 
powers  of  Europe  from  whom  an  arbitrator  would  almost  necessa- 
rily be  selected,  and  out  of  the  influence  she  possesses  over  their 
counsels,  and,  I  may  add,  growing  out  of  the  nature  of  our  insti- 
tutions, and  the  little  favor  these  enjoy  at  present  upon  the  East- 
ern continent,  which  may  well  have  made  the  government  hesitate 
to  submit  important  interests,  at  this  particular  juncture,  to  such 
a  tribunal.  It  may  well  have  thought  it  better  to  hold  on  to  our 
right,  and  to  hold  on  also  to  our  remedy,  rather  than  commit  both 
to  a  royal  arbitrator.  War  is  a  great  calamity,  and  ought  to  be 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  295 

avoided  by  all  proper  means ;  but  there  are  calamities  greater  than 
war,  and  among  these  is  national  dishonor. 

I  did  not  rise,  sir,  as  will  be  seen,  to  discuss  in  whole  or  in  part 
the  question  of  our  right  to  Oregon.  That  subject  will  come  up 
in  its  own  proper  time.  There  may  be  some  difference  of  opinion 
as  well  in  Congress  as  in  the  nation,  respecting  the  territorial  ex- 
tent of  that  right ;  though  I  take  this  opportunity  of  expressing  my 
entire  and  hearty  concurrence  in  the  claim  as  advanced  by  the 
President.  But  I  am  sure  there  is  no  great  party,  and  I  trust  there 
are  few  individuals  in  this  country,  who  are  prepared,  even  in  an 
extreme  spirit  of  compromise,  to  aceept  the  most  liberal  offer  that 
England  has  yet  made.  Her  pretensions  and  ours  are  so  widely 
separated,  that  there  seems  no  middle  ground  on  which  to  meet. 
Our  most  moderate  claim,  and  her  most  liberal  offer,  leave  the 
parties  assunder  by  seven  degrees  of  latitude,  and  by  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  territory  in  question.  What,  then,  is  our  condition? 
Can  we  recede  ?  Can  we  stand  still ;  or  must  we  advance? 

As  to  receding,  it  is  neither  to  be  discussed  nor  thought  of.  I 
refer  to  it  but  to  denounce  it  —a  denunciation  which  will  find  a 
response  in  every  American  bosom.  Nothing  is  ever  gained  by 
national  pusillanimity.  And  the  country  which  seeks  to  purchase 
temporary  security  by  yielding  to  unjust  pretensions,  buys  present 
ease  at  the  expense  of  permanent  honor  and  safety.  It  sows  the 
wind  to  reap  the  whirlwind.  I  have  said  elsewhere,  what  1  will 
repeat  here,  that  it  is  better  to  fight  for  the  first  inch  of  national 
territory  than  for  the  last.  It  is  better  to  defend  the  door  sill  than 
the  hearth  stone — the  porch  than  the  altar.  National  character  is 
a  richer  treasure  than  gold  or  silver,  and  exercises  a  moral  influ- 
ence, in  the  hour  of  danger,  which,  if  not  power  itself,  is  its  surest 
ally.  Thus  far,  ours  is  untarnished  ;  and  let  us  all  join,  hotvever 
separated  by  party  or  by  space,  so  to  preserve  it. 

If  we  cannot  recede,  can  we  stand  still  ?  No,  Mr.  President ; 
in  this,  as  in  all  the  other  elements  of  national  power  and  great- 
ness, our  duty  and  our  destiny  are  onwards.  We  might  as  well 
attempt  to  stay  the  waves  of  the  Pacific,  as  to  stay  the  tide  of  em- 
igration which  is  setting  towards  its  shoies.  If  this  government 
had  the  disposition,  it  has  not  the  power  to  arrest  this  human  cur- 
rent. But  it  has  neither — neither  the  power  nor  the  disposition 
to  do  it.  There  are  questions  of  public  right,  which  may  rest  in 
abeyance  ;  which  are  not  called  into  daily  exercise ;  and  need  be 
asserted  only  when  required.  But  such  is  not  the  right  by  which 
we  hold  Oregon.  We  must  maintain  it,  or  abandon  it.  A  vigor- 
ous and  enterprising  people  are  fast  increasing  there,  who  will  hold 
1  he  country  by  the  best  of  all  titles — that  of  occupation  and  improve- 
ment ;  and  if  we  do  not  provide  them  a  government,  they  will  pro- 
vide one  for  themselves.  Already  necessity  has  compelled  them 
to  organize  their  civil  society,  and  to  make  those  arrangements 
for  the  preservation  of  order,  without  which  no  civilized  communi- 
ty can  exist.  It  is  only  a  few  days  since  they  made  known  to  you, 


296  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

by  a  judicious  and  well-written  memoaial,  their  condition  and  their 
wants  ;  and  asked  your  interposition  to  remove  the  serious  difficul- 
ties with  which  they  find  themselves  environed.  And  think  you, 
that  if  their  prayer  is  unheard,  and  their  grievances  unredressed, 
and  if  the  present  state  of  things  continue,  that  you  will  find  a  dis- 
tant colony  patiently  awaiting  your  tardy  movements,  and  ready  to 
admit  your  jurisdiction  when  you  may  be  ready  to  exercise  it  ? 
No ;  they  will  feel  themselves  neglected,  cast  off,  left  to  their  own 
resources,  the  victims  of  diplomatic  chicanery  or  of  national  pus- 
silanimity,  and  they  will  seek  their  own  security  in  their  own  pow- 
er. That  great  truth,  not  applicable  alone  to  republican  govern- 
ments, but  common  to  all,  and  which  lay  at  the  foundation  of  our 
Revolution — that  protection  and  allegiance  are  reciprocal — will 
soon  be  heard  upon  the  banks  of  the  Columbia,  and  will  inspire 
the  councils  of  the  hardy  pioneers,  who,  while  they  have  sought  a 
new  home  in  a  distant  country,  have  carried  with  them  the  senti- 
ments of  true  liberty  to  the  regions  beyond  the  Rocky  mountains. 

It  is  clearly  impossible  that  the  present  state  of  things  should 
continue ;  nor,  I  must  confess,  do  1  see  how  it  is  possible  that  a 
community,  inhabiting  the  same  region,  and  possessing  the  same 
right  to  every  part  of  it,  can  hold  a  divided  allegiance,  and  be  gov- 
erned at  the  same  time  by  two  distinct  and  distant  sovereignties. 
When  the  present  anomalous  provision  was  made,  the  country  was 
unsettled;  for  the  few  hunters  who  roamed  over  it  could  hardly  be 
dignified  with  the  name  of  settlers;  and  it  probably  never  occur- 
red to  the  negotiators,  nor  to  their  governments,  that  this  arrange- 
ment would  outlive  the  then  existing  state  of  things,  and  would 
come  to  operate  upon  a  civilized,  a  stationary,  and  a  rapidly  increa- 
sing community. 

Bnt  what  kind  of  order  can  a  double-headed  government  pre- 
serve ?  How  are  its  departments — legislative,  executive,  and  ju- 
dicial— to  be  administered  ?  How  are  rights  to  be  enforced,  or 
wrongs  to  be  prevented  or  punished  ?  Two  neighbors,  living  with- 
in hearing  of  each  other,  are  responsible  to  different  tribunals,  and 
governed  by  different  codes  of  laws.  An  American  killing  an 
Englishman  must  be  tried  by  an  American  court  and  by  American 
laws.  But  how  are  English  witnesses  to  be  summoned,  or  Eng- 
lish disturbers  of  the  proceedings  of  the  court  to  be  removed  or 
punished  ?  Possessory'rights  are  to  be  judged  by  the  courts  of  the 
party  last  getting  possession.  Contracts  are  to  be  enforced  by  the 
courts  of  the  party  charged  with  violating  them.  And  wrongs  are 
to  be  redressed,  or  satisfied,  or  punished  by  the  courts  of  the  party 
accused  of  committing  them.  A  single  American  in  the  midst  of 
an  English  settlement,  or  a  single  Englishman  in  the  midst  of  an 
American  settlement,  bears  with  him  a  charmed  life.  He  may  do 
what  he  will,  and  as  he  will,  but  he  is  beyond  the  reach  of  restraint, 
and  almost  of  punishment.  He  is  invulnerable,  and  the  arrows  of 
justice  cannot  pierce  even  his  heel.  The  nearest  magistrate  who 
has  jurisdiction  over  him  may  be  hundreds  of  miles  removed  ;  and 


LIFE    OE    GENERAL    CASS.  297 

were  he  nearer,  his  national  sympathies  might  naturally  be  excited 
in  favor  of  his  countryman.  There  can  be  no  regular  grants  of 
land — none,  in  fact,  of  those  public  improvements  essential  to  the 
progress  and  stability  of  society.  I  present  merely  the  most  gen- 
eral views  of  this  subject,  but  they  are  sufficient  to  show  how  im- 
practicable it  would  be  to  attempt  to  establish  this  double  juris- 
diction. It  would  be  easy  to  pursue  the  investigation  much  fur- 
ther were  it  necessary. 

Who  does  not  see  that  bitter  disputes  would  soon  arise?  That 
each  party  would  accuse  the  other  of  partiality  and  injustice? 
That  violence  and  bloodshed  would  follow,  and  that  an  intestine 
war  would  establish  the  ascendency  of  one  or  other  of  the  rival  and 
national  parties  ?  All  this  is  so  plain  that  he  who  runs  may  read. 
And  we  are  warned  by  the  surest  instincts  of  our  nature  not  to 
trust  our  rights  and  our  cause  and  the  cause  of  humanity  to  such 
a  partition  of  authority. 

If,  then,  Mr.  President,  we  can  neither  retrace  our  steps  nor 
check  them,  we  must  go  onward.  And  England  has  placed  her- 
self in  the  path  that  is  before  us  ;  and  if  she  retain  her  position, 
we  must  meet  her.  If  the  last  proposition  she  has  submitted  is 
her  ultimatum,  it  is  effectively  a  declaration  of  war.  Its  advent 
may  be  delayed  a  few  months ;  but  as  soon  as  the  notice  ex- 
pires, if  she  persists,  as  she  will  do,  in  her  occupation  of  the  coun- ' 
try,  the  struggle  must  commence.  It  is  not  the  notice  which  is  a 
belligerent  measure,  for  that  is  a  treaty  right ;  but  it  is  the  subse- 
quent and  immediate  course  the  parties  will  probably  pursue  that 
must  lead  to  war.  I  hope — or  I  ought  rather  to  say  I  wish — that 
England  would  awake  to  a  sense  of  her  injustice,  and  would  yield 
where  she  could  yield  honorably,  and  ought  to  yield  rightfully. 
But  will  she  do  so?  It  is  safest  to  believe  she  will  not,  and  this 
dictate  of  prudence  is  fortified  by  every  page  of  her  history.  When 
did  she  voluntarily  surrender  a  territory  she  had  once  acquired,  or 
abandon  a  pretension  she  had  once  advanced  ?  If  a  few  such  ca- 
ses could  be  found  in  the  record  of  her  progress  and  acquisitions, 
they  would  be  but  exceptions,  which  would  render  the  general 
principle  of  her  conduct  only  the  more  obvious.  For  my  own  part, 
I  see  no  symptoms  of  relaxation  in  the  claims  she  has  put  forth. 
And  the  declarations  in  Parliament  of  the  leaders  of  the  two  great 
parties  that  divide  her  Government  and  her  people — Sir  Robert 
Peel  and  Lord  John  Russell — show  a  union  of  opinion,  and  fore- 
show a  union  of  action,  should  action  be  necessary,  rarely  to  be 
found  in  the  political  questions  that  agitate  her  councils,  and  are 
the  index,  if  not  the  assurance,  of  an  equal  unanimity  in  public 
sentiment. 

Sir,  we  find  the  leader  of  the  great  Whig  party,  in  his  place  in 
Parliament,  in  effect  denouncing  the  course  of  the  United  States 
in  the  annexation  of  Texas,  because  it  tends  towards  territorial  ag- 
grandizement ;  and  the  eternal  cant  about  British  moderation  and 
philanthropy,  and  American  injustice  and  ambition,  is  heard,  and 


UF£    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

read,  and  believed  in  every  corner  of  the  British  dominions.  I 
must  confess,  sir,  I  am  heartily  tired  of  it.  Were  the  subject  and 
its  consequences  not  so  important,  these  declarations  would  excite 
ridiclue,  as  they  now  excite  regret  and  surprise.  They  are  not 
confined  to  ordinary  political  discussions  and  to  the  journals  of  the 
day,  but  they  come  from  the  highest  men,  in  the  highest  places. 
And  here  is  an  eminent  English  statesmen  asking  the  Administra- 
tion what  course  they  intend  to  pursue  in  the  altered  policy  of  the 
United  States,  as  he  terms  it — as  though  the  voluntary  union  of 
two  independent  people  upon  this  continent  were  an  injury  to  Eng- 
land, which  demanded  her  immediate  attention,  and  might  demand 
her  armed  interposition.  And  he  tells  us,  he  understands  that 
communications  have  been  sent  to  the  United  States,  to  Mexico, 
and  to  Texas,  on  the  subject  of  what  he  calls  the  new  policy  of  the 
United  States.  And  we  know  that  those  communications  to  Mex- 
ico and  to  Texas  contained  large  offers  to  prevent  annexation. 
But,  thanks  to  the  onward  course  of  our  Government,  and  to  the 
feelings  and  determination  of  the  Texian  people,  this  interposition 
was  fruitless  ;  as  was  the  communication  to  Mexico,  if  this  were 
designed  to  embroil  us  with  that  country.  The  well-timed  rebuke, 
administered  by  the  President  in  his  Message,  to  the  French  Gov- 
ernment for  its  interposition  in  our  affairs  with  Texas,  might,  with 
equal  justice,  have  been  administered  to  England ;  and  I  presume 
would  have  been  so,  had  not  the  President  looked  upon  the  course 
of  the  one  Power  as  natural,  judging  from  past  events,  while  the 
course  of  the  other  was  unnatural,  impolite,  and  unexpected. 

But  this  Whig  lecture  of  Lord  John  Russell  upon  the  ambition 
of  the  United  States,  and  these  perpetual  eulogiums  upon  the  mo- 
deration of  England,  are  in  strange  contrast  with  the  practical  prin- 
ciples and  the  progress  of  her  empire.  The  moderation  of  Eng- 
land, and  the  ambition  of  the  United  States  !  Why,  sir,  the  world 
has  never  seen,  since  ths  fall  of  the  Roman  empire,  such  a  colos- 
sal power  as  England  has  built  up.  She  has  girded  the  earth  with 
her  fortifications,  and  covered  the  ocean  with  her  fleets.  A  com- 
paratively narrow  island,  off  the  western  coast  of  Europe,  she  num- 
bers as  her  subjects  143,000,090  of  people — being  more  than  one- 
sixth  part  of  the  human  race  ;  and  has  reduced  to  her  subjection 
3,800,000  square  miles  inhabited  by  them,  being  one-eighth  part 
of  the  habitable  globe.  And  in  the  long  series  of  her  acquisitions, 
from  the  reduction  of  Ireland  downwards,  with  the  exception  of 
her  union  with  Scotland  and  some  recent  discoveries  in  the  South 
Sea,  I  believe  all  have  been  gained  by  the  sword.  And  when  has 
it  happened  in  her  history,  that  a  people,  or  the  smallest  fragment 
of  a  people,  has  voluntarily  sought  peace  or  protection  under  her 
sovereignty  ?  Her  armies  and  fleets  have  too  often  been  sent  out 
wherever  there  was  a  people  to  be  subdued,  or  the  fruits  of  their 
industry  to  be  secured.  I  have  no  pleasure  in  dwelling  upon  this 
course  of  ambition.  I  have  no  pleasure  in  national  crimination 
and  recrimination.  I  had  far  rather  dwell  upon  all  she  has  done  ; 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  299 

and  she  has  done  much — to  command  the  gratitude  of  mankind, 
and  much  for  the  progress  of  civilization,  of  improvement,  and  of 
knowledge.  But  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  this 
country  and  its  institutions  enjoy  little  favor  in  England.  That 
there  is  a  systematic  attack  upon  our  character,  and  upon  what 
we  are,  and  have  been,  and  upon  our  future,  so  far  as  it  is  given 
to  foresee  and  to  fear  it.  I  confess  all  this  has  produced  a  last- 
ing impression  upon  me ;  and  I  feel  little  disposed,  in  any  contro- 
versy with  that  country,  to  submit  to  unjust  demands,  urged  in  a 
spirit  of  unfriendliness,  if  not  of  menace. 

And  if  England  is  moderate,  we  are  ambitious  !  Why,  sir,  we 
have  made  but  three  acquisitions  of  territory  since  we  have  been 
a  nation.  And  these  were  not  distant  colonies,  but  coterminious 
regions.  And  all  three  have  been  made  peacefully,  bloodlessly. 
Two  were  colonies  belonging  to  European  monarchies,  where  the 
assent  of  the  people  to  the  transfer  of  their  allegiance  could  not  be 
asked.  But  they  have  since  shown  their  satisfaction  by  their  pa- 
triotism, and  their  prosperity  has  been  the  reward  of  it.  Nowhere 
is  the  Union  more  prized,  nor  would  it  anywhere  be  more  zealously 
defended.  The  third  and  last,  and  most  glorious  of  these  acqui- 
sitions, is  now  in  the  progress  of  completion,  by  the  voluntary  ac- 
tion of  a  neighboring  people,  who  knew  the  value  of  our  institu- 
tions, and  sought  to  participate  in  them,  and  who  asked  admission 
to  our  confederacy.  And  we  shall  receive  them  with  open  arms. 
And  it  is  an  encouraging  spectacle  to  the  lovers  of  freedom  through 
the  world,  and  the  best  tribute  that  could  be  offered  to  its  value. 

I  said,  Mr.  President,  that  this  was  the  latest,  but  I  hope  it  will 
not  be  the  last  of  our  acquisitions.  While  I  would  sacredly  res- 
pect the  just  rights  of  other  nations,  I  would  cheerfully  extend  the 
jurisdiction  of  our  own,  whenever  circumstances  may  require  it, 
and  wherever  it  can  be  done  without  injustice.  I  have  no  fear 
that  an  extension  of  territory  will  weaken  our  Government,  or  put 
in  peril  our  institutions.  We  have  an  adhesive  and  a  life-preser- 
ving principle,  in  the  exercise  of  political  power  by  the  great  body 
of  the  people,  which  is  a  surer  bond  of  union  and  preservation 
than  fleets  and  armies  and  central  powers.  If  this  Administration 
could  crown  its  labor  of  acquisition — and  in  what  it  has  labored 
with  not  less  ability  than  success — by  the  peaceful  annexation  of 
California,  it  would  secure  imperishable  honor  for  itself,  and  would 
command  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  whole  country. 

Under  these  imposing  circumstances,  we  may  well  ask  of  the 
watchman,  what  of  the  night  ?  We  may  well  inquire,  what  we 
ought  to  do.  I  take  it  for  granted  we  shall  give  the  notice  recom- 
mended by  the  President ;  for  if  we  do  not,  we  shall  leave  the  peo- 
ple of  Oregon  without  a  government,  or  with  an  impracticable  one  ; 
and,  in  either  event,  the  country  is  lost  to  us ;  and  the  notice  being 
given,  in  twelve  months,  without  an  abandonment  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  her  claim,  we  shall  find  ourselves  involved  in  a  war  with 
England.  And  it  will  be  no  common  war,  Mr.  President :  it  will 


300  .  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

be  a  war  not  merely  of  interest,  but  of  strong  and  stormy  passions, 
growing  out  of  the  relative  situation  of  the  two  nations,  and  out 
of  the  very  points  of  resemblance,  which  will  but  render  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  parties  the  wider,  and  the  struggle  the  longer  and  the 
bitterer.  It  will  do  no  good  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  prospect  be- 
fore us.  Danger  can  neither  be  averted  nor  avoided  by  indiffer- 
ence, nor  by  presumption.  Let  us  look  our  difficulties  and  our 
duties  fully  in  the  face.  Let  us  make  preparation  adequate  to  the 
conjuncture.  Let  us  exhibit  to  England  and  to  Europe  the  spec- 
tacle of  an  undivided  people,  anxious  for  peace,  but  ready  for  war. 
In  the  language  of  Mr.  Madison,  "let  us  put  the  United  States  in- 
to an  armor,  and  an  attitude  demanded  by  the  crisis,  and  corres- 
ponding with  the  national  spirit  and  expectation." 

One  war  has  already  found  us  unprepared.  And  what  that  con- 
dition of  things  cost  in  blood,  and  treasure,  and  disaster,  those  of 
us  who  went  through  the  struggle  can  well  remember  ;  and  those 
who  have  come  upon  the  stage  of  action  since  that  period,  may 
learn  from  the  history  of  the  times.  And,  perhaps  to  a  certain 
extent,  this  must  be  so,  and  always  will  be  so.  We  are  all  opposed 
to  great  military  establishments  in  time  of  peace.  They  are  as 
dangerous  as  they  are  expensive.  And  they  will  therefore  never 
be  engrafted  into  the  permanent  institutions  of  the  country.  But 
when  war  threatens,  we  should  commence  our  preparations,  and 
press  them  with  an  energy  and  a  promptitude  commensurate  with 
the  danger. 

The  President  has  discharged  his  duty  ably,  patriotically,  fear- 
lessly. Let  us  now  discharge  ours — not  by  words  merely,  but  by 
deeds.  The  best  support  we  can  give  him  is  to  respond  to  his  de- 
clarations by  our  actions.  It  is  my  firm  conviction,  and  I  do  not 
hesitate  thus  publicly  to  avow  it,  that  the  best,  if  not  the  only  hope 
that  we  have  of  avoiding  a  war  with  England,  is  by  exhibiting  a 
public  and  united  determination  to  prosecute  it,  should  it  come, 
with  all  the  energies  that  God  has  given  us,  and  by  an  instant  and 
serious  consideration  of  the  preparations  necessary  for  such  offen- 
sive and  defensive  measures  as  may  be  required,  and  as  prompt  an 
adoption  of  them  as  a  just  regard  to  circumstances  may  demand. 
Our  country  is  extensive.  In  many  portions  of  it  the  population 
is  sparse.  The  frontier,  both  Atlantic  and  inland,  is  long  and 
exposed. 

Our  defensive  works  are  unfinished,  and  some  of  them  are  un- 
furnished. I  do  not  know,  but  I  fear  that  many  important  branches 
of  supply  are  inadequate.  Our  navy,  and  especially  the  steam  por- 
tion of  it,  is  not  upon  a  scale  commensurate  with  our  wants,  if  war 
is  almost  upon  us.  That  navy  fought  itself  into  favor,  and  its 
country  into  honor,  in  the  seemingly  unequal  and  almost  desperate 
struggle  into  which  it  so  gallantly  went  in  the  last  war.  And  ano- 
ther contest  would  find  it  equally  true  to  its  duty,  and  to  the  pub- 
lic expectations.  I  trust  the  time  will  never  again  come,  when  it 
will  be  a  question  in  a  great  crisis,  whether  the  navy  shall  be  dis- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  301 

mantled  and  rot  in  our  docks,  or  whether  it  shall  be  sent  out  to 
gather  another  harvest  of  glory  upon  the  ocean.  It  is  the  materiel 
for  military"  and  naval  operations  it  is  first  necessary  to  procure. 
Men  we  have  ready  ;  and  such  is  the  patriotism  inherent  in  the 
American  character,  that  they  never  will  be  found  wanting  in  the 
hour  of  difficulty  and  of  danger.  Our  militia  requires  a  new  and 
an  efficient  organization.  It  is  a  reproach  to  us  that  we  have  suf- 
fered this  important  branch  of  national  defence  to  become  so  in- 
efficient. It  has  almost  disappeared  from  the  public  view.  Both 
the  laws  upon  this  subject  and  the  administratian  of  them,  require 
immediate  and  severe  examination  ;  for  this  is  one  of  the  great 
bulwarks  of  the  country  in  the  hour  of  danger.  It  has  shown  its 
patriotism  and  valor  upon  many  a  bloody  field,  and  the  future,  if  it 
should  need  its  services,  will  witness  its  devotion  to  the  country, 
whenever  and  wherever  and  however  it  may  be  tried.  Many  of 
the  supplies  required  for  the  operations  of  war,  demand  time  and 
care  for  their  collection  and  preparation  ;  and  we  must  remember 
that  we  have  to  do  with  a  people  whose  arsenals  and  dock  yards 
are  filled  to  repletion  ;  whose  supplies  are  upon  a  scale  equal  to 
any  probable  demand  upon  them  ;  whose  gigantic  military  and  na- 
val establishments  announce  their  power  and  maintain  it ;  and  the 
structure  of  whose  Government  is  better  fitted  than  ours  for 
prompt  and  vigorous  and  offensive  action. 

It  is  in  the  spirit  of  these  views  that  I  have  submitted  the  reso- 
lutions before  the  Senate,  and  in  which  I  ask  their  concurrence. 

A  great  responsibility  is  upon  us.  We  shall  best  discharge  it  by 
firmness,  and  by  a  wise  forecast,  which,  while  it  steadily  surveys 
the  danger,  makes  adequate  provision  to  meet  it.  By  thus  acting, 
we  shall  give  a  practical  approbation  of  the  course  of  the  Presi- 
dent ;  we  shall  show  to  our  constituents  that  their  interests  are 
safe  in  our  hands  ;  we  shall  speak  neither  in  a  deprecating  tone, 
nor  in  a  tone  of  defiance,  but  of  firmness,  to  England  ;  and  we 
shall  give  to  the  nations  of  Europe  a  proof  that  Republics  are  as 
jealous  of  their  rights  and  honor,  and  as  determined  to  maintain 
them,  as  monarchical  governments. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Slavery  question — Position  of  Gen.  Ca^s — The  VVilmot  Proviso  and  Mexican 
War — Remarks  of  Gen.  Casa  in  the  Senate,  February  10th,  1847,  on  the  appro- 
priation of  three  millions  to  bring  the  war  with  Mexico  to  a  close — His  remarks 
on  voting  against  the  adoption  of  the  \Vilmot  Proviso— Gen.  Cass'  letter  to 
A.  O.  P.Nicholson,  of  Tennessee — His  desire  for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
war — Tribute  of  praise  to  the  Army  in  Mexico — Origin  of  the  war, 

THE  position  of  Gen.  Cass  in  regard  to  the  Slavery  question, 
has  been  objected  to  by  some  of  his  democratic  friends  and  by  his 
political  opponents,  as  inconsistent  with  his  relations  to  the  north- 
ern portion  of  the  Union.  His  decided  opposition  to  what  is  so 
well  known  as  the  "  Wilmot  Proviso,1'  so  far  as  its  application  was 
attempted  in  Congress  in  the  creation  of  territorial  governments, 
and  in  relation  to  the  particular  time  when  the  attempt  was  made, 
has  rendered  him  the  most  conspicuous  among  statesmen,  against 
whom  the  friends  and  supporters  of  the  proviso  have  arrayed  them- 
selves. The  principle  of  this  celebrated  proviso,  which  has  caused 
so  great  excitement  and  agitation  throughout  the  United  States  for 
the  past  five  years,  was  first  introduced  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives by  a  member  from  Massachusetts,  (Hon.  Mr.  Winthrop) 
and  applied  to  the  Oregon  bill.  Subsequently,  when  war  existed 
between  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  the  President,  desirous  of 
terminating  speedily  and  honorably,  hostilities  between  the  two  na- 
tions, recommended  Congress  to  authorize  the  expenditure  of  a 
sum  of  money  necessary  to  accomplish  that  object.  The  chief 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  an  arrangement,  was  the  settlement  of  a 
boundary  line  between  the  two  Republics ;  an  adjustment  of  which 
might  probably  require  some  concession  on  the  part  of  Mexico, 
for  which  an  equivalent  in  money  would  be  acceptable.  For  the 
purpose  indicated  by  the  President,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  August,  1846,  placing  at  the  dispo- 
sal of  the  Executive  two  millions  of  dollars.  During  the  discus- 
sion of  this  bill,  which  was  just  at  the  close  of  the  session,  Mr. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  303 

Wilmot,  Representative  from  Pennsylvania,  offered  the  following 
as  an  amendment  to  the  bill : 

''Provided,  That,  as  an  express  and  fundamental  condition  to 
the  acquisition  of  any  territory  from  the  Republic  of  Mexico  by 
the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  any  treaty  which  may  be  negotia- 
ted between  them,  and  to  the  use  by  the  Executive  of  the  moneys 
herein  appropriated,  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall 
ever  exist  in  any  part  of  said  territory,  except  for  crime,  whereof 
the  party  shall  first  be  duly  convicted." 

The  bill  passed  the  House  with  this  amendment  on  the  8th  of 
August,  1846,  the  vote  being  eighty-seven  in  the  affirmative  and 
fifty-four  in  the  negative.  The  bill  was  then  sent  to  the  Senate, 
and  on  Monday,  August  10th,  was,  on  motion  of  Senator  Lewis, 
of  Alabama,  taken  up  for  consideration.  Mr.  Lewis  moved  to 
strike  from  the  bill  the  proviso  which  had  been  adopted  in  the 
House.  This  motion  provoked  a  debate  which  did  not  terminate 
in  time  to  allow  a  vote  to  be  taken  on  the  bill,  (Hon.  Senator  Da- 
vis, of  Massachusetts,  occupying  the  remainder  of  the  session  in 
opposition  to  the  bill  and  motion  of  Mr.  Lewis,)  before  the  time 
of  the  final  adjournment  of  Congress  arrived.  As  no  vote  was  ta- 
ken, it  is  not  known  what  would  have  been  the  fate  of  the  bill  in 
the  Seriate,  although  in  secret  session  before  the  introduction  of 
the  bill  in  the  House,  thirty-three  Senators  approved  of  the  appro- 
priation ;  but  the  proviso  was  not  then  incorporated  in  it. 

At  the  subsequent  session  of  Congress,  the  President  renewed 
the  recommendation  of  his  special  message  of  the  previous  ses- 
sion. Action  thereon  was  had  in  Congress,  and  when  the  bill  ma- 
king a  special  appropriation  of  three  millions  to  bring  the  war 
with  Mexico  to  a  speedy  and  honorable  conclusion,  came  up  for 
consideration  in  the  Senate.  Gen.  Cass  supported  the  appropria- 
tion, and  in  the  course  of  his  speech  reviewed  the  relations  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  the  peculiar  character  of  the  war,  and 
the  propriety  of  legislating  in  regard  to  it,  as  the  President  recom- 
mended. 

The  following  extracts  are  taken  from  a  speech  of  Gen.  Cass, 
delivered  February  10th,  1847 : 

"  We  are  at  war  with  Mexico,  brought  on  by  her  injustice.  Be- 
fore peace  is  established,  we  have  a  right  to  require  a  reasonable 
indemnity,  either  pecuniary  or  territorial,  or  both,  for  the  injuries 
we  have  sustained.  Such  a  compensation  is  just  in  itself,  and  in 


304  LIFE    OK    GENERAL    CASS. 

strict  accordance  with  the  usages  of  nations.  One  memorable 
proof  of  this  has  passed  in  our  own  times.  When  the  allies  en- 
tered Paris,  after  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon,  they  compelled  the 
French  Government  to  pay  them  an  indemnity  of  fifteen  hundred 
millions  of  francs,  equal  to  three  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  In 
the  condition  of  Mexico,  there  is  no  disposition  in  this  country  to 
ask  of  her  an  unreasonable  sacrifice.  On  the  contrary,  the  wish 
is  everywhere  prevalent,  and  I  am  sure  the  Government  partici- 
pate in  it,  that  we  should  demand  less  than  we  are  entitled  to.  No 
one  proposes  a  rigid  standard,  by  which  the  indemnity  shall  be 
measured.  But  there  are  certain  territorial  acquisitions,  which 
are  important  to  us,  and  whose  cession  cannot  injure  Mexico,  as 
she  never  can  hold  them  permanently.  We  are  willing,  after  set- 
tling the  indemnity  satisfactorily,  to  pay  for  the  excess  in  money. 
The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  has  stated  the  proposition  very 
distinctly,  '  any  excess  on  our  part  we  are  willing  to  meet,  as  we 
ought,  by  the  necessary  payment  to  Mexico.'  " 

"  It  is  now  objected  to,  as  an  immoral  proposition,  a  kind  of 
bribery,  either  of  the  Government  of  Mexico,  or  of  its  Command- 
ing General ;  and  the  honorable  Senator  from  Maryland,  who  is 
not  now  in  his  seat,  said  emphatically  and  solemnly,  '  that  this  pro- 
ject of  terminating  the  war  by  dismembering  a  sister  republic,  is 
so  revolting  to  my  moral  sense  of  propriety,  honor  and  justice, 
that  I  should  see  my  arms  palsied  by  my  side,  rather  than  agree 
to  it.'  The  '  dismemberment'  of  which  the  honorable  member 
speaks,  is  previously  defined  by  himself.  That  is  the  term  he 
gives  the  acquisition,  but  I  call  it  purchase.  He  says  the  money 
will  go  to  Santa  Anna  and  pay  the  army,  which  will  thus  be  secu- 
red, and  the  poor  'downtrodden'  people  be  transferred  to  this 
country  '  in  spite  of  themselves,'  in  consequence  of  this  '  pouring 
of  gifts  into  the  hands  of  their  tyrants.' 

"  Now,  sir,  there  is  no  such  proposition,  as  I  understand  it,  nor 
anything  like  it.  The  object  of  the  President  has  been  distinctly 
stated  by  himself.  It  is  to  have  the  money  ready,  and  if  a  satis- 
factory treaty  is  signed  and  ratified,  then  to  make  a  payment  into 
the  treasury  of  Mexico,  which  will  be  disposed  of  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  that  country,  agreeably  to  its  own  laws.  The  proposi- 
tions, both  at  the  last  session  of  Congress  and  at  this,  were  iden- 
tical. The  difference  in  the  phraseology  of  the  appropriation  has 
been  satisfactorily  explained  by  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations,  and  seems  to  me  of  very  little  consequence. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  not  a  subject  which  can  produce  of  itself 
any  practical  difficulty.  For  if  there  is  any  member  of  the  Sen- 
ate, who  is  willing  to  vote  for  the  appropriation  in  the  form  in 
which  it  was  presented  last  year,  and  is  unwilling  to  vote  for  it  in 
this,  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  will  cheerfully  assent  to 
the  substitution  of  the  latter  for  the  former." 

"As  to  the  idea,  that  such  an  arrangement  is  something  like 
bribery,  it  seems  to  me  it  will  not  bear  the  slightest  investigation. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  305 

A  strange  kind  of  bribery  this  !  The  appropriation  called  for  was 
preceded  by  a  message  from  the  President  to  the  Senate  in  secret 
session.  It  was  then  received  in  both  Houses,  and  the  doors 
thrown  open.  It  was  discussed  fully,  not  to  say  warmly,  and  was 
finally  lost  by  the  lapse  of  time.  In  secret  session  thirty-three 
Senators  voted  for  it.  It  again  takes  a  prominent  place  in  the 
President's  message  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  session 
of  Congress.  It  has  been  before  us  between  two  and  three  months, 
and  has  been  borne  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind  to  the  remotest 
portions  of  our  country.  It  entered  Mexico  long  ago,  and  has 
been  proclaimed  upon  every  house-top  in  town  and  country.  It  is 
known  to  every  citizen  of  that  Republic,  who  knows  anything  of 
political  affairs,  whether  the  blood  in  his  veins  is  Castilian,  or 
Moorish,  or  Aztec.  It  has  passed  to  Europe,  and  received  the 
condemnations  of  many  of  its  journals.  Had  it  been  approved 
there,  I  should  doubt  its  policy  or  its  justice.  And  for  aught  I 
know,  it  is  travelling  along  the  canals  of  the  Celestial  Empire.  I 
repeat,  a  strange  kind  of  bribery  this !  That  is  an  offence  which 
does  its  work  in  secret.  This  is  a  proposition  made  by  one  nation 
to  another,  in  the  face  of  the  world.  It  is  not  to  enable  Mexico 
to  carry  on  the  war,  as  an  honorable  Senator  seems  to  suppose,  for 
it  is  not  to  be  paid  till  the  war  is  over." 

"  The  whole  proposition  results  from  the  peculiar  condition  of 
Mexico.  Her  Government  is  ephemeral.  Its  members  are  born 
in  the  morning  and  die  in  the  evening.  Administrations  succeed 
one  another,  like  the  scenes  of  a  theatre,  rather  than  the  events  of 
life,  and  still  less  of  events  in  the  life  of  a  nation.  The  rulers  do 
not  dare  to  do  justice  in  such  a  case  as  this.  It  might  cost  them 
their  places,  to  which  they  hold  on  as  tenaciously  as  though  their 
tenure  were  a  secure  one.  There  is  a  strong  excitement  in  that 
country  against  us.  Nothing  shows  this  more  distinctly,  than  the 
scene,  which  lately  passed  there,  when  their  President  swore  that 
the  nation  would  never  yield  one  inch  of  its  territory,  nor  make 
peace  with  the  invader,  till  his  foot  was  off  its  soil.  A  dangerous 
resolution  to  be  thus  publicly  proclaimed,  and  one  more  easily  pro- 
claimed than  kept.  The  sublime  and  the  ridiculous  may  so  easily 
touch,  that  nations  should  be  chary  of  such  exhibitions,  which  ' 
may  belong  to  the  domain  of  one  or  of  the  other,  as  subsequent 
circumstances  stamp  their  character.  Whatever  judgment,  how- 
ever, history  may  pronounce  upon  this  ceremony  in  Mexico,  it  is 
significant  enough  of  the  disposition  of  the  people  towards  us. 
Hence  the  difficulty  of  the  Government  is  increased,  and  hence 
the  necessity  of  their  strengthening  themselves.  Their  revenues 
are  drying  up.  They  are  always  in  debt  in  all  their  departments, 
civil  and  military.  By  a  prompt  payment  into  their  treasury  upon 
the  ratification  of  a  treaty,  the  Government  will  be  enabled  to  sat- 
isfy the  most  pressing  demands,  and  thus  to  do  an  act  of  justice  at 
home  which  will  counteract  any  ill  cfleqgp  of  an  act  of  justice 
abroad.  And  this  is  the  very  point  of  the  whole  matter.  We  may 

20 


LIFE   OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

thus  tempt  them  to  do  right,  while  so  many  other  strong  circum- 
stances tempt  them  to  do  wrong.  As  to  the  application  of  this 
money,  after  it  reaches  the  treasury  of  Mexico,  it  is  no  question 
of  ours,  any  more  than  was  the  application  of  the  consideration 
money  paid  to  France  and  Spain  for  the  purchase  of  Louisiana 
and  of  Florida.  We  cannot  follow  it,  and  it  must  take  its  fate 
with  the  other  resources  of  the  country.  It  has  one  advantage, 
however,  and  that  is  its  publicity.  If  the  silver  or  gold  were  car- 
ried by  wagons  to  the  palace  of  *the  Government,  the  transaction 
could  have  no  more  publicity  than  it  has  now.  And  this  throws 
upon  the  authorities  a  much  graver  responsibility,  than  do  the  or- 
dinary payments,  and  one  less  likely  to  be  abused.  If  all  this  is 
bribery,  I  am  fully  prepared  to  take  my  share  in  the  guilt  of  it. 
If  it  is  bribery,  let  the  honest  governments  of  Europe  make  the 
most  of  it." 

"  Passing  now,  sir,  from  the  consideration  of  this  subject  to  the 
course  before  us,  I  would  observe,  that  there  are  but  three  plans 
of  operation,  by  which  we  can  escape  from  the  difficulties  of  our 
position. 

"  The  first  is,  an  abandonment  of  the  war,  and  an  inglorious 
return  to  our  own  country. 

"  The  second  is,  the  establishment  of  a  line  over  such  a  portion 
«f  the  enemy's  territory,  as  we  think  proper,  and  holding  the  coun- 
try on  this  side  of  it  without  any  further  military  operations. 

"  The  third  is,  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  agreeably  to 
the  public  expectation,  and  the  experience  of  the  world. 

"  As  to  the  first,  sir,  I  do  not  place  it  in  the  category  of  things 
possible,  but  only  in  the  category  of  things  proposed,  and  I  cast  it 
from  me  with  contempt. 

"  The  second,  sir,  is  a  very  different  proposition ;  supported  by 
high  names,  civil  and  military,  and  was  yesterday  presented  to  us 
with  great  power  of  argument  and  beauty  of  illustration  by  the 
distinguished  Senator  from  South  Carolina.  I  shall  state  as  suc- 
cinctly as  I  can  the  reasons  which  induce  me  to  consider  this  as 
an  inexpedient,  not  to  say  an  impossible,  proposition. 

"  A  plan  of  operations,  seeking  to  hold  a  portion  of  a  country, 
properly  guarded  by  fortresses,  and  furnished  with  the  necessary 
lines  of  communication,  and  seeking  to  do  this,  without  publicly 
announcing  the  nature  of  the  plan,  and  the  determination  to  ad- 
here to  it,  is  one  thing.  An  attempt  to  occupy  another  portion  of 
country,  open,  unfortified,  with  no  natural  boundaries,  and  pene- 
trable in  all  directions,  and  publicly  proclaiming  this  system  as  an 
invariable  one,  not  to  be  departed  from,  is  another,  and  quite  a 
different  thing.  From  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  following  the  bound- 
aries of  the  provinces  now  in  our  possession,  to  the  Pacific -ocean, 
is  but  little  short  of  two  thousand  miles.  Far  the  greater  portion 
of  it  is  open,  and  much  of  it  unoccupied.  Instead  of  any  lines  of 
communication,  natural  or  artificial,  where  it  must  necessarily  be 
crossed,  it  may  be  crossed  anywhere.  It  is  a  mere  paper  line — a 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  307 

descriptive  one.  For  hundreds  of  miles  on  each  side  of  a  great 
part  of  the  line,  the  country  is  the  same ;  roamed  over  rather  than 
possessed  by  nomadic  tribes,  and  affording  subsistence  and  shelter 
to  the  beasts  of  the  earth.  If  you  assume  such  a  boundary,  you 
necessarily  place  yourself  upon  the  defensive.  You  must  estab- 
lish troops  along  it,  and  these  must  be  scattered,  occupying  differ- 
ent positions.  Your  enemy  thus  acts  in  masses,  while  you  act  in 
detachments.  If  he  attack  you,  and  succeed,  you  are  destroyed. 
If  he  attack  you,  and  is  discomfited,  he  falls  back,  behind  his  im- 
penetrable bnrri^r.  A  snake,  clutched  by  an  eagle,  is  one  of  the 
emblems  of  the  armorial  bearings  of  Mexico.  If  this  plan  of 
fighting  to  an  air  line  is  adopted,  the  proud  bird  will  soon  be  pow- 
erless, and  the  reptile  will  coil  itself  up  to  strike  at  its  leisure  and 
its  pleasure.  In  such  a  state  of  offensive-defensive  warfare,  the 
enemy  chooses  his  time,  when  you  least  expect  him,  or  are  least 
able  to  resist  him.  He  gains  your  rear,  and  cuts  off  your  convoys 
and  supplies,  and  thus  reduces  you  to  weakness  and  distress.  Or 
he  strikes  you  in  a  period  of  sickness,  in  a  climate  to  which  you 
are  unaccustomed,  and  whose  alternations  do  not  affect  him.  You 
cannot  pursue  him  into  his  country,  for  the  moment  you  do  that, 
you  confess  the  folly  of  your  plan,  and  abandon  it  for  ever.  If 
you  cross  your  boundary,  you  must  cross  it  to  hold  on,  and  then 
you  have  a  new  boundary,  or,  in  other  words,  a  system  of  unlimit- 
ed operations.  If  you  do  not  cross  to  hold  on,  what  will  you  do? 
Your  very  object  in  crossing  is  to  chastise  the  enemy ;  and  you 
must  pursue  him  to  his  fortresses  and  capture  them,  if  he  has  any; 
or  you  must  fight  him  in  the  open  field  and  disperse  him.  I  re- 
peat, if  you  do  not  do  this,  you  may  as  well  stop  at  your  boundary; 
look  civilly  at  the  retiring  enemy,  take  off  your  hats,  and  say : 
Good  bye,  gentlemen  ;  we  will  wait  till  you  come  back  again.  The 
riches  of  Croesus  would  melt  away,  before  such  a  system  of  fight- 
ing-no-fighting. The  laurels  of  Napoleon  would  wither  and  die. 
No  exchequer  could  bear  the  expense.  No  public  sentiment  the 
dishonor.  There  is  but  one  such  campaign,  sir,  recorded  in  all 
history,  ancient  or  modern,  sacred  or  profane,  true  or  fabulous, 
and  that  is  the  campaign  of  Sisyphus.  It  was  an  eternal  one. 
Sanction  the  plan  proposed,  and  yours  will  be  eternal  too.  This 
stone  will  never  be  rolled  to  the  top  of  the  mountain.  It  would 
be  a  never-ending,  ever-renewing  war.  The  distinguished  Sena- 
tor from  South  Carolina  thinks,  that  four  regiments  and  three  for* 
tresses  along  this  line,  and  one  regiment  and  a  few  small  vessels 
for  California,  '  would  be  ample  for  its  defence.'  The  line,  as  de- 
scribed by  himself,  is  this  :  '  Beginning  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio 
del  Norte,  and  continuing  up  the  Paso  del  Norte,  or  southern  boun- 
dary of  New  Mexico,  which  nearly  coincide,  and  then  due  west 
to  the  Gulf  of  California,  striking  it,  according  to  the  maps  before 
us,  nearly  at  its  head.' 

Here,  sir,  is  aline  across  the  continent  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
to  the  Gulf  of  California  ;  and  this  line  is  to  be  so  protected  by 


XIFE    OF    GENERAL    CA8S. 

fire  regiments,  three  fortresses,  and  a  few  small  vessels,  as  to  be 
impervious  to  therancheros  and  other  light  troops  of  Mexico — the 
best  and  most  indefatigable  horsemen,  perhaps,  in  the  world.  I 
have  enumerated,  in  these  means  of  defense,  a  few  small  vessels, 
because  they  form  part  of  the  project  of  the  honorable  Senator. 
.How  they  are  to  be  employed  in  defending  any  part  of  the  line,  as 
I  do  not  understand,  I  will  not  attempt  to  explain.*  If  the  soldiers 
were  stationed  equidistant  upon  this  boundary,  they  would  proba- 
bly be  a  mile  apart.  It  seems  to  me,  sir — and  I  say  it  with  all  re- 
spect— that  we  might  as  well  attempt  to  blockade  the  coast  of  Eu- 
rope by  stationing  a  ship  in  the  middle  of  the  Atlantic.  As  to  the 
Rio  Grande,  it  is  no  defensive  line  at  all.  Rivers,  when  best 
guarded,  are  found  to  afford  very  insufficient  protection.  But  in 
the  great  country  south  and  west  of  us,  yet  in  a  state  of  nature, 
or  slowly  emerging  from  it,  streams  are  entitled  to  very  little  con- 
sideration in  defensive  operations.  Who  is  there,  that  has  passed 
his  life  in  the  West,  and  has  not  crossed  them  a  hundred  times  by 
swimming,  in  canoes,  upon  logs,  upon  rafts,  and  upon  horses  ?  Is 
it  to  be  supposed,  that  an  active  Mexican,  accustomed  to  the  woods 
from  his  infancy,  would  hesitate  to  dash  into  a  stream,  and  cross 
it,  almost  as  readily  as  if  it  were  unbroken  ground  ? 

But  long  defensive  lines,  even  when  skilfully  constructed  and 
carefully  guarded,  are  but  feeble  barriers  against  courage  and  en- 
terprise. How  long  did  the  Roman  wall  keep  the  North  Britons 
out  of  England  ?  How  long  did  the  Grecian  wall  of  the  Lower 
Empire  keep  the  Turks  out  of  Constantinople,  and  the  horse-tails 
of  their  Pashas  from  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Sophia  ?  And  the 
Chinese  wall — an  immense  labor  of  man — that,  too  opened  to  the 
Tartars,  and  enabled  the  chief  of  roving  bands  to  ascend  the  old- 
est throne  in  the  world.  The  best  wall  a  country  can  have,  is  the 
breasts  of  its  citizens,  free,  prosperous,  and  united. 

But,  sir,  there  is  another  consideration,  not  to  be  overlooked. 
How  could  you  keep  your  own  citizens  on  this  side  of  your  imagi- 
nary line?  The  honorable  Senator  tells  us,  their  spirit  of  adven- 
ture can  hardly  be  restrained  in  time  of  peace,  and  that  there  is 
always  danger,  they  will  push  into  the  Mexican  provinces.  But  in 
time  of  war — even  of  a  new  kind  of  war  like  this — they  would 
feel,  that  the  enemy's  country  was  open  to  them,  and  their  incur- 
sions would  keep  up  a  continued  state  of  hostilities. 

The  Senator  says,  that  offensive  wars  look  to  the  subjugation  of 
a  country.  I  do  not  thus  read  the  history  of  the  world,  nor  the 
history  of  nations.  I  consider  offensive  wars,  as  necessary  means 
for  the  attainment  of  certain  just  objects.  Our  war  with  England, 
in  1812,  was  an  offensive  one ;  but  no  American,  even  in  his  wild- 

»It  is  due  to  the  distinguished  Senator  from  South  Carolina  to  state  that,  when 
§fr  CABS  had  concluded  his  remarks,  he  observed  that  he  had  misunderstood 
jiini,  as  to  the  defence  of  the  line ;  that  the  fortresses  and  the  four  regiment* 
would  be  appropriated  but  to  a  part  of  it.  If  so,  a  large  portion  of  the  country 
would  be  left  undefended,  and  the  whole  plan  of  operation  would  fail.  Such  a 
plan  to  be  eflectual,  must  guard  the  whole  line. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  «>0i» 

est  dreams,  ever  expected  to  subjugate  that  country.  Our  object 
was  to  compel  her  to  do  us  justice,  by  injuring  her  wherever  we 
could.  History  is  filled  with  instances  of  offensive  wars,  under- 
taken with  no  expectation  of  subjugation.  Indeed,  were  it  other- 
wise, there  would  be  few  offensive  wars,  unless  those  undertaken 
by  very  large  states  against  very  small  ones.  If  it  were  so,  per- 
haps the  world  would  be  better  off.  That  question,  however,  its 
not  before  me,  and  I  shall  not  travel  out  of  my  way  to  meet  it. 

The  Senator  says  we  have  gained  six  hundred  thousand  square 
miles,  and  who  would  continue  the  war  to  secure  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  Mexico  ?  But,  sir,  it  is  that  very  acknowledgment,  which 
is  to  give  us  the  country.  Until  the  right,  which  cession  gives,  is 
added  to  the  right  derived  from  conquest,  we  can  make  no  acqui- 
sition of  territory.  We  are  still  at  war.  It  is  that  very  act  of  ac- 
knowledgment, which  constitutes  peace,  and  without  which  there 
can  be  no  peace. 

"The  Senator  also  has  submitted  many  sound  observations  re- 
specting the  diversity  of  character,  of  races,  and  of  institutions, 
which  exist  between  us  and  Mexico,  and  he  deprecates,  with  equal 
zeal  and  justice,  the  union  of  the  Mexican  people  and  ours.  I 
fully  agree,  sir,  in  all  that.  It  would  be  a  deplorable  amalgama- 
tion. No  such  evil  will  happen  to  us  in  our  day.  We  do  not  want 
the  people  of  Mexico,  either  as  citizens  or  subjects.  All  we  want 
is  a  portion  of  territory,  which  they  nominally  hold,  generally  un- 
inhabited, or,  where  inhabited  at  all,  sparsely  so,  and  with  a  popu- 
lation, which  would  soon  recede,  or  identify  itself  with  ours.  The- 
Senator  says,  speaking  of  Mexico,  "what  are  you  to  do  with  the 
territory  ?"  I  answer,  nothing  at  all,  as  a  permanent  acquisition. 
"Will  you,"  says  the  Senator,  "incorporate  it  in  your  Union?" 
Certainly  not.  We  shall  hold  it  as  a  means  of  procuring  an  hono- 
rable peace.  And  such  a  peace  it  may  be  made  to  procure  for  us. 
******* 

"The  eyes  of  Europe  are  upon  us.  Nothing  worse  can  happen 
to  us,  than  to  stop  ingloriously.  That  is  our  last  resource.  We 
have,  then,  but  to  prosecute  this  war,  as  other  wars  are  prosecu- 
ted by  other  nations.  We  have  but  to  discard  dangerous  experi- 
ments, and  to  hold  on  to  the  experience  of  the  world.  We  must 
breast  ourselves  to  the  shock.  We  must  continue  our  occupation 
of  Mexico,  and  push  the  invasion  still  farther.  We  must  do  as 
other  people  have  done — we  must  attack  and  disperse  her  armies, 
take  possession  of  her  towns,  and  capture  her  fortresses.  There 
seems  to  be  some  analogy  between  the  cities.of  Paris  and  Mexico. 
Both  are  the  native  seats  of  revolutions.  Both  exert  a  preponde- 
rating influence  over  their  respective  countries.  I  have  no  right 
to  give  an  authoritative  opinion,  respecting  the  expediency  of  a 
demonstration  upon  the  capital.  Still,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say, 
that  I  think  it  would  be  a  wise  and  probably  decisive  measure.  It 
would  disperse  the  Government,  and  weaken,  if  not  break,  its  hold 
upon  public  opinion.  It  would  divert  the  revenues  from  them  to 
us.  And,  in  addition  to  this  resource,  I  agree  fully  with  the  hon- 


310  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

orable  Senator  from  Missouri  in  opinion,  that  we  should  call  con- 
tributions to  our  aid,  in  defraying  our  military  expenses.  It  is  a 
legitimate  means  of  support  for  hostile  armies.  It  belongs  to  the 
present  age,  and  not  exclusively  to  the  past.  During  all  the  wars 
in  Europe  in  our  time,  almost  the  first  thing  the  commander  of  a 
foreign  army  does,  on  entering  an  enemy's  town,  is  to  convene 
the  magistrates,  and  make  requisitions  upon  them  for  bread,  meat, 
wine,  forage,  and  such  other  supplies  as  are  wanted.  And  this, 
too,  under  threat  of  military  execution.  And  the  process  has 
been  found  effectual,  and  the  practice  universal. 

But  it  is  said,  Mr.  President,  that  the  Mexicans  will  fight  till  the 
last  extremity.  It  may  be  so.  There  are  many  desperate  deeds 
recorded  in  history,  and  obstinacy  is  a  prominent  trait  in  the 
Spanish  character,  and  belongs  to  all  the  affiliated  people  of  that 
stock.  But  men  do  not  fight  for  the  mere  purpose  of  being  killed. 
We  do  not  enter  Mexico  to  conquer  her — only  to  conquer  a  peace. 
We  do  not  assail  her  independence.  We  do  not  seek  her  perma- 
nent subjugation.  We  only  ask  her  to  do  us  justice.  It  seems  to 
me,  then,  that  this  is  not  one  of  those  cases,  sometimes  prominent 
in  the  history  of  nations,  where  the  public  energy  is  aroused  to  a 
fit  of  desperation,  and  by  which  means  victories  are  achieved 
against  all  previous  calculations.  Without  government,  without 
trade,  without  resources,  sowing,  but  not  to  reap,  or  reaping  but 
not  to  enjoy,  and  with  all  the  evils  of  hostile  occupation,  I  cannot 

but  think,  that  the  Mexican  people  may  be  conquered — to  justice. 

******* 

During  a  considerable  portion  of  last  session  of  Congress,  we 
were  occupied  in  the  consideration  of  the  thesis,  that  nations  can- 
not go  to  war  in  this  enlightened  age  of  the  world.  How  we 
should  have  decided  that  difficult  question,  had  a  decision  become 
necessary,  I  do  not  venture  to  assert.  Our  deliberations  were  sud- 
denly interrupted  by  the  sound  of  hostile  cannon  from  India,  from 
Australia,  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  from  Algiers,  from  the 
Caucasus,  and  from  the  La  Plata,  and  still  nearer  and  louder  from 
our  own  frontier,  which  announced,  that  old  fashioned  war,  with 
all  its  evils,  still  found  abiding  places  upon  the  earth,  and  that  we 
were  yet  far  from  the  age  of  universal  peace  and  benevolence. 
The  disinterested  English  journals  read  us  many  a  homily  upon 
our  pugnacious  propensities  ;  and  some  of  the  continental  papers 
of  Europe,  expressed  their  holy  horror  at  the  assurance  of  that 
great,  unbridled,  trans-Atlantic  democracy,  in  thinking  it  had 
honor  and  interests  to  assert,  and  courage  to  defend  them. 

But,  sir,  passing  from  the  external  view  of  our  difficulties  with 
Mexico,  we  have  still  an  internal  one  to  take,  which  involves  much 
higher  considerations.  The  causes  of  the  war  are  a  grave  subject 
of  discussion.  Public  opinion  is  investigating  and  pronouncing 
its  judgment  upon  them.  For  myself,  1  have  no  fear  of  the  re- 
sult. The  more  the  question  is  examined,  the  more  manifest  will 
be  our  wrongs,  and  the  clearer  our  forbearance.  In  the  Presi- 
dent's last  annual  message,  an  interesting  synopsis  was  given  of 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  311 

the  conduct  of  Mexico  towards  this  country.  No  more  conclusire 
review  of  national  injuries  has  ever  appealed  to  the  public  opinion 
of  this  country,  or  of  the  world.  It  recapitulates,  calmly,  and 
with  truth  and  force,  the  still  accumulating  wrongs,. we  had  suffer- 
ed, and  the  final  act,  which  crowned  them — the  invasion  of  our 
country  and  the  attack  upon  the  army  ;  an  attack,  which  the  Mex- 
ican authorities  declared  they  would  make,  as  far  east  as  the  Sa- 
bine  river. 

I  shall  not,  Mr.  President,  go  over  the  whole  ground  of  our  diffi- 
culties with  Mexico.  I  regret,  that  it  becomes  necessary  to  inves- 
tigate their  history  in  this  place.  I  regret,  that  unanimity  does 
not  prevail  upon  this  subject,  when  unanimity  is  so  essential  to 
prompt  and  vigorous  action.  While  I  regret  it,  however,  I  im- 
pugn the  motives  of  no  one.  Thank  God,  we  are  as  free  to  inves- 
tigate the  conduct  of  the  Government,  as  we  are  to  breathe  the 
air  of  heaven.  But  while  I  concede  to  others  the  same  right  I 
claim  for  myself — the  right  to  examine  freely,  and  to  judge  openly, 
the  conduct  of  the  Government  in  its  intercourse  with  other  na- 
tions— I  may  be  allowed  to  express  the  regret,  and  together  with 
the  regret,  the  surprise,  that  throughout  the  country  one  undivided 
sentiment  had  not  prevailed — that  the  conduct  of  Mexico  left  us 
no  choice  between  war  and  dishonor. 

We  were  the  first  to  receive  that  republic  into  the  family  of  na- 
tions. Our  complaints  against  her  commenced  almost  with  the 
commencement  of  her  independence.  They  go  back  to  the  year 
1817,  and  come  down  to  the  present  day,  in  one  almost  uninter- 
rupted series  of  outrages.  I  shall  not  state  them  seriatim,  nor 
enter  into  the  detail  of  their  nature  and  extent.  This  has  been 
repeatedly  done,  and  the  official  documents  are  before  the  country. 
I  will  merely  classify  from  an  able  report,  made  by  Mr.  Forsyth  in 
1837,  the  various  heads  of  complaints,  which  will  present  the  gene- 
ral aspect  of  the  subject : 

1.  Treasure  belonging  to  citizens  of  the  United  States  has  been 
seized  by  Mexican  officers  in  its  transit  from  the  capital  to  the  coast. 

2.  Vessels  of  the  United  States  have  been  captured,  detained, 
and  condemned,  upon  the  most  frivolous  pretexts. 

3.  Duties  have  been   exacted  from  others  notoriously  against 
law,  or  without  law. 

4.  Other  vessels  have  been  employed,   and,   in  some  instance* 
ruined  in  the  Mexican  service,  without  compensation  to  the  owners. 

5.  Citizens  of  the  United  States  have  been  imprisoned  for  long 
periods  of  time,  without  being  informed  of  the  offences  with  which 
they  were  charged. 

6.  Other  citizens  have  been  murdered  and  robbed  by  Mexican 
officers  on  the  high  seas,  without  any  attempt  to  bring  the  guilty 
to  justice. 

In  presenting  to  Congress  these  causes  of  complaint  against 
Mexico  in  1837,  General  Jackson  stated  that  they  "would  justify, 
in  the  eyes  of  all  nations,  immediate  war."  This  sentiment  was 


312  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

responded  to  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  both  in  the 
Senate  and  in  the  House  of  Representatives  ;  the  former  of  whom 
looked  to  a  presentation  of  the  subject  at  the  next  session  of  Con- 
gress, and  could  not  doubt,  but  that  such  measures  would  be  im- 
mediately adopted,  as  might  be  necessary  to  vindicate  the  honor  of 
the  country,  and  insure  ample  reparation  to  our  injured  citizens. 
And  the  latter  said  they  "fully  concur  with  the  President,  that  am- 
ple cause  exists  for  taking  redress  into  our  own  hands,  and  believe, 
that  we  shall  be  justified  in  the  opinion  of  other  nations  for  taking 
such  a  step."  President  Van  Btiren,  in  December,  1837,  in  his 
message  to  Congress,  said  that  "though  our  causes  of  complaint, 
and  some  of  the  most  offensive  character,  admitted  of  an  immedi- 
ate and  satisfactory  reply,  yet  it  was  only  within  a  few  days  that 
any  answer  had  been  received,  and  that  no  satisfaction  had  been 
given  or  offered  for  one  of  our  public  complaints,  and  that  only 
one  case  of  personal  wrong  had  been  favorably  considered,  and 
that  but  four  cases  out  of  all,  had  been  decided  by  the  Mexican 
Government."  President  Van  Buren  distinctly  told  Congress,  that 
redress  was  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Executive,  and  could  only  be 
obtained  by  the  action  of  Congress,  which  action  must,  of  course, 
have  been  war. 

As  to  the  conventions,  which  have  since  been  made  by  the  two 
countries,  and  violated  by  Mexico,  I  need  not  enter  into  their  his- 
tory :  they  are  iresh  in  the  recollection  of  all.  These  three  con- 
ventions, by  the  infidelity  of  the  Mexican  Government,  have  pro- 
ved nearly  fruitless ;  and  after  thirty  years  of  injury  on  the  one 
side,  and  of  remonstrance  on  the  other,  there  is  nothing  left  for  us, 
but  to  abandon  all  hope  of  redress,  or  to  obtain  it  by  a  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  war.  Is  there  another  government  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  which  would  have  been  thus  patient,  not  to  say  hum- 
ble, during  the  long  progress  of  such  aggressions?  And  it  is  now 
too  late  to  tell  us,  that  we  have  hastily  and  unnecessarily  com- 
menced war,  when  the  war  was  commenced  by  the  enemy,  and 
when,  if  we  had  struck  the  first  stroke,  we  should  have  been  jus- 
tified in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  of  posterity.  But  it  may  be 
said,  and  it  has  been  said,  that  although  sufficient  causes  of  war 
existed  on  our  part,  still  it  was  not  these  causes,  which  provoked 
immediate  hostilities.  This  view,  if  true,  has  relation  to  the  expe- 
diency, and  not  to  the  justice  of  the  war.  But  what  are  the  gene- 
ral facts,  upon  which  a  just  conclusion  can  be  formed  ?  After 
the  convention  of  Texas  had  decided,  that  that  republic  would  an- 
nex herself  to  the  United  States,  agreeably  to  the  terms  held  out 
in  the  act  of  Congress,  but  before  its  consummation  by  a  vote  of 
the  Texan  people,  we 'were  under  a  strong  moral  obligation  to  pro- 
tect her  from  any  foreign  invasion,  and  more  particularly  from  any 
inyasion,  to  which  she  might  be  exposed  by  the  manifestations  of 
her  intentions  to  attach  herself  to  the  United  States.  I  shall  not 
argue  this  point.  No  illustration  can  make  it  stronger.  As  soon, 
therefore,  as  the  incipient  steps  had  been  taken,  our  troops  entered 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  313 

Texas,  by  the  invitation  of  the  proper  authorities,  and  on  the  15th 
day  of  August,  1845,  they  had  taken  a  position  at  Corpus  Christi, 
west  of  the  Nueces,  and  remained  there  till  the  17th  of  March, 
1846,  when  they  marched  for  the  Rio  Grande.  So  much  for  our 
military  movements. 

Two  causes  are  alleged,  as  giving  Mexico  just  cause  of  war 
against  the  United  States.  The  first,  which  is  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  is  jointly  urged  both  in  Mexico  and  in  this  country.  The 
second,  which  I  believe  finds  its  advocates  only  in  the  United 
States,  is  that  our  army  occupied  the  country  between  the  Nueces 
and  the  Rio  Grande. 

As  to  the  first,  it  has  passed  the  ordeal  of  public  opinion,  and 
received  its  final  judgment.  I  do  not  natter  myself,  that  I  could 
present  any  new  views  of  a  subject,  so  long  and  so  publicly  dis- 
cussed. But,  as  it  stands  in  my  way,  and  I  cannot  avoid  it,  I  shall 
venture  to  submit  a  few  reflections,  which  have  occurred  to  me. 

The  right  of  a  country  to  reduce  to  obedience  a  portion  of  its 
territory,  asserting  independence  by  arms,  is  not  denied.  The  re- 
cognized principles  of  the  law  of  nations  require  other  powers  to 
afford  no  aid  to  either  party,  during  the  actual  progress  of  the  con- 
troversy. They  may  acknowledge,  however,  and  in  fact,  they  often 
do  acknowledge,  the  independence  of  the  insurrectionary  province, 
without  giving  to  the  Government,  claiming  its  allegiance,  any  just 
cause  of  offence.  They  did  so  to  Mexico  during  the  progress  of 
her  revolutionary  war  with  Spain,  and  they  did  so  to  Texas,  while 
a  similar  relation  existed  between  her  and  Mexico.  But  there  is 
a  limit  to  this  right.  Such  a  war  cannot  last  forever,  and  two  na- 
tions cannot  forever  be  kept  in  this  peculiar  attitude,  involving  deli- 
cate questions,  that  may  at  any  time  disturb  the  peace  of  the  world. 
When  Greece  declared  her  independence  of  Turkey,  the  Porte 
waged  a  war  of  many  years  to  reduce  her  to  subjection.  The 
principal  powers  of  Europe,  believing  that  a  reasonable  opportu- 
nity had  been  afforded  to  the  Turkish  Government  to  re-establish 
its  supremacy,  and  in  which  effort  it  had  failed,  determined,  that 
an  end  should  be  put  to  the  operations.  They  therefore  interfered, 
and  announced  to  the  Sultan,  that  the  time  had  come  when  Greece 
must  be  independent.  And  this  declaration  was  maintained  by 
force,  and  at  Navarino,  to  use  a  villified,  but  very  proper  express- 
ion, they  conquered  a  peace.  This  is  perhaps  a  strong  case,  for 
this  interference  took  place  flagrante  bello,  while  a  Turkish  army 
was  yet  engaged  in  operations  to  put  down  the  spirit  of  freedom 
in  Greece.  As  a  general  principle,  it  may  be  assumed,  that  while 
both  parties  are  waging  open  war,  to  assert  their  superiority,  other 
nations  should  look  on  and  peacefully  bide  the  issue.  But  when 
the  contest  is  actually  abandoned,  and  the  invading  party  with- 
draws from  the  disputed  territory,  and  relinquishes  all  military  op- 
erations, the  struggle  is  over.  Independence  is  established,  and 
whatever  may  be  the  nominal  relations  of  the  two  countries,  they 
are  henceforth  in  the  same  attitude — equal  powers  among  the  na- 


314  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CAS5. 

tions  of  the  earth.  The  war  is  in  effect  o/er,  and  its  rights  should 
pass  away  with  itself.  This  is  the  true  view  of  the  subject ;  and 
applying  these  principles  to  the  then  existing  relations,  between 
Mexico  and  Texas,  we  shall  find  that  the  latter  power  was  as  free 
from  Mexico,  as  we  are  from  England.  No  effort  had  been  made 
by  the  Mexican  Government  for  ten  years  to  reduce  her  revolted 
province  to  subjection.  Not  a  hostile  foot  had  trodden  the  Texan 
soil.  A  chief  magistrate,  and  at  the  same  time,  commander-in- 
chief,  captured  ;  an  army  destroyed;  and  all  invaders  repelled, 
were  the  fruits  of  her  last  exertion.  They  crowned  at  once  her 
patriotism,  and  sealed  her  iate.  She  was  thenceforth  independent. 
And  no  more  decisive  evidence  of  this  result  can  be  furnished, 
than  the  very  conduct  of  Mexico  herself.  What  did  she  do,  proba- 
bly under  other  promptings,  when  it  was  ascertained,  that  Texas 
desired  admission  into  our  Confederacy  ?  She  offered  to  acknowl- 
edge her  independence,  if  she  would  pledge  herself  not  to  join  the 
American  Union.  A  jealous  and  an  unworthy  proposal,  which 
the  one  had  no  right  to  make,  and  which  the  other  indignantly  re- 
jected. A  proposal,  which  was,  in  fact,  the  very  recognition  of- 
fered. It  acknowledged  the  strength  of  Texas,  and  the  weakness 
of  Mexico,  and  that  further  efforts  at  subjugation  were  hopeless. 
For  myself,  I  have  always  considered  that  act  of  the  Mexican  Go- 
vernment, as  an  abandonment  of  the  controversy,  and  an  admis- 
sion, that  Texas  was  independent  of  her,  and  beyond  her  power. 

But  as  reasonable  men,  looking  at  things  as  they  are,  what  in- 
jury have  we  inflicted  upon  Mexico,  under  any  just  view,  ihat  can 
be  taken  of  her  relations  with  Texas?  What  has  she  lost  by  our 
interference  ?  Her  own  claim  may  be  summed  up  in  this,  that 
she  had  a  contingent  right  to  reduce  Texas  to  submission.  And 
what  was  that  right  worth  1  Where  is  the  man  in  Texas,  in  Mex- 
ico, even  in  Christendom,  who  believes  there  was  a  bare  possibili- 
ty, that  the  Texan  people  could  ever  be  replaced  in  their  primitive 
condition  by  the  power  of  the  Mexican  Government  ?  The  thing 
was  impossible.  Its  time  had  gone  by.  Events  had  rolled  over 
and  crushed  all  hopes  of  recovery.  Of  what,  then,  does  Mexico 
complain  ?  Certainly  of  no  pecuniary  injury,  for  none  has  been 
inflicted.  If  annexation  has  had  any  effect,  in  this  point  of  view 
that  effect  has  been  beneficial ;  for  it  has  saved  to  the  Mexican 
people  an  immense  and  useless  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure. 
Is  there  any  point  of  honor  involved  ?  I  can  discern  none.  For 
the  principal  fact  that  Mexico  was  powerless,  was  felt  and  acknowl- 
edged by  all  the  world.  I  know  what  may  be  said  upon  this  sub- 
ject, sir,  Rights  may  be  pushed  to  their  extremes ;  principles  to 
their  utmost  bearing.  And  as  Mexico  had  an  absolute  right,  we 
should  have  left  it  to  her.  1  do  not  deal  with  such  questions,  nor 
with  their  consequences.  I  take  the  public  affairs  of  this  world, 
as  they  are,  judging  them  by  the  rules  of  common  sense,  and  pro- 
nouncing them  just  or  unjust,  as  they  come  up  to,  or  recede  from, 
that  universa^ standard. 


LIFE    OF    (JENERAL    CASS.  315 

But,  sir,  there  is  one  consideration,  which  renders  it  proper  we 
should  still  keep  in  view  the  previous  wrongs,  which  Mexico  had 
inflicted  upon  us.  Her  conduct,  in  the  long  progress  of  these  out- 
rages, had  established  her  character.  Redress  was  impossible. 
Thirty  years  were,  with  her,  as  one  day,  and  one  day  as  thirty 
years ;  for,  at  the  end  of  that  period,  we  were  about  where  we  be- 
gan, so  far  as  respects  satisfaction,  while  our  causes  of  complaint 
had  gone  on  accumulating,  almost  in  an  inverse  proportion,  to  the 
lapse  of  time.  We  had  found,  by  experience,  there  could  be  no 
amicable  and  satisfactory  adjustment  of  our  difficulties  with  Mex- 
ico. We  had  learned — and  learned  to  our  sorrow — that  what  we 
got  we  had  to  take  with  the  strong  hand.  What  greater  probabi- 
lity was  there,  that  we  should  adjust  the  question  of  unsettled  boun- 
daries, after  her  hostile  and  peremtory  declaration,  than  that  we 
should  adjust  our  causes  of  complaint,  many  of  which  she  admit- 
ted, and  scarcely  any  of  which  she  denied?  We  claim  Texas  to 
the  Rio  Grande  I  will  not  stop  to  examine  the  grounds  of  that 
claim.  This  has  been  explained  and  defended  by  others,  more 
competent  to  the  task  than  I  am.  In  this  Senate  the  strongest  po- 
sition I  have  heard  taken  in  opposition  to  the  extent  of  this  claim, 
is,  that  much  may  be  said  on  both  sides.  Well,  then,  we  had  a 
reasonable  claim.  I  say,  an  undoubted  one,  and  we  took  the  as- 
sertion of  it  into  our  own  hands.  And,  the  jeremaiads  of  the  Lon- 
don journals  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  I  do  not  believe  there 
is  a  government  in  Christendom,  if  it  felt  itself  able,  which,  under 
similar  circumstances,  would  not  have  done  as  we  did.  The  past 
had  marked  out  the  future.  The  indication  was  unerring.  And 
we  judged  for  ourselves,  and  acted  for  ourselves,  as  we  had  aright 
to  do,  after  Mexico,  for  the  third  part  of  a  century,  had  shown  a 
dogged  determination  to  refuse  us  justice. 

Bat,  sir,  had  we  taken  the  initiative,  and  commenced  war  im- 
mediately, we  should  have  been  justified  from  other  considerations. 
When  the  act  for  annexation  passed,  the  Mexican  Minister  in  this 
country  immediately  protested  against  that  measure ;  and,  in  fact, 
declared  it  to  be  just  cause  of  war.  And  this  view  was  more  au- 
thoritatively announced  by  the  supreme  Government  of  Mexico, 
March  12,  1840,  which  declared,  in  a  note  to  Mr.  Slidell,  that  it 
looked  '•  upon  annexation  as  a  casus  belli ;  and  as  a  consequence 
of  this  declaration,  negotiation  was  by  its  very  nature  at  an  end, 
and  war  was  the  only  recourse  of  the  Mexican  Government."  But 
before  this  last  and  decisive  aqt,  the  Government  of  Mexico  had 
given  many  indications  of  its  determination  to  resist,  by  force,  the 
annexation  of  Texas ;  and  particularly  those  announced  in  the  com- 
munications from  our  Consul,  and  from  our  Minister  in  Mexico, 
and  in  the  letter  of  the  Mexican  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  of 
December  20,  1845.  In  this  last  document,  that  functionary  says 
that  "  the  questions  which  have  disturbed  the  harmony  between 
the  two  countries,  will  bring  on  a  war  between  them,  unless  such 
settlement  be  effected  in  a  satisfactory  manner,"  &c.  What  set- 


316  LIFE   OF   GENERAL   CASS. 

tlement  the  Mexican  Government  demanded,  and  for  want  of  which 
it  is  said  a  casus  belli  had  occurred,  was  a  change  in  our  relations 
with  Texas ;  leaving  to  Mexico  the  assertion  of  her  assumed  rights 
over  it.  In  short,  sir,  from  the  first  moment  it  appeared  probable, 
that  Texas  would  be  admitted  into  our  Confederacy,  to  our  latest 
diplomatic  communication  with  her  Government,  Mexico  has  told 
us  and  the  world,  that  annexation  would  be,  and  is  war  ;  and  she 
went  on  preparing  to  add  deeds  to  declarations,  by  the  concentra- 
tion of  her  forces,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  take  the"  initiative"  in  hos- 
tilities against  us,  to  borrow  the  expression  of  General  Paredes  in 
his  orders  to  the  Mexican  commanding  general.  I  need  not  reca- 
pitulate the  series  of  facts,  which  announced  and  confirmed  her 
purposes.  They  have  passed  into  history,  and  are  known  to  us 
all.  The  Texas  of  Mexico,  was  Texas  to  the  Sabine,  with  no  in- 
termediate boundary,  to  which  we  might  go  with  impunity,  and 
make  the  country  our  own.  That  river  was  a  Rubicon,  and  it  be- 
came us  to  pause  and  ponder  on  its  banks,  before  we  crossed  its 
stream,  and  carried  our  standard  to  the  country  beyond.  In  all 
the  communications  of  the  Mexican  Government,  no  distinction 
is  made  between  the  Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande.  And  the  oc- 
cupation, by  our  forces,  of  the  country  between  these  rivers,  which 
took  place  in  August,  1845,  was  never  presented  as  an  exclusive 
cause  of  complaint,  nor  indeed,  noticed  in  any  manner  whatever. 
It  was  the  annexation  and  occupation  of  Texas,  and  not  of  any 
particular  portion  of  Texas,  which  led  to  the  reclamations,  and  fi- 
nally to  the  hostilities  of  Mexico.  It  was  a  question  of  title,  and 
not  of  boundary.  A  claim  of  right,  which  went  for  the  whole,  and 
would  never  be  satisfied  with  the  relinquishment  of  a  part.  And, 
sir,  the  warning  and  threatenings  of  Mexico  were  no  vain  boast- 
ings. She  said  what  she  would  do,  and  she  did  as  she  said.  At 
the  commencement  of  April,  1846,  and  before  it  could  have  been 
known  in  Mexico,  that  General  Taylor  had  advanced  to  the  Rio 
Grande,  the  President  of  that  republic  directed  its  general  upon 
the  frontier  to  "  attack"  our  army  "  by  every  means,  which  war 
permits."  It  was  not  till  after  this,  and  in  fact  till  after  our  occu- 
pation of  the  country  west  of  the  Nueces,  for  upwards  of  eight 
months,  without  a  single  .allusion  to  that  river,  that  it  first  makes 
its  appearance  in  a  Mexican  communication.  And  it  is  then  found 
in  a  letter  from  Ampudia  to  General  Taylor,  who  is  required  to 
break  up  his  camp  within  twenty-four  hours,  and  to  withdraw  to 
the  eastern  side  of  the  Nueces.  Such  a  demand,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, admitted  but  one  answer,  and  it  got  it,  and  that  an- 
swer was  No.  And  General  Taylor  was  as  speedy  as  he  was  brief; 
for  the  same  day  gave  birth  to  the  demand,  and  to  the  refusal.  It 
surely  cannot  be  necessary  to  enter  into  the  decisive  considera- 
tions, going  to  show  that  such  a  retrograde  movement  was  then 
impossible.  We  had  taken  up  a  position  peaceably  within  our  own 
territory,  as  we  claimed  it,  and  with  no  intimation  from  our  oppo- 
nent, that  that  position  was  any  more  an  infraction  of  his  rights, 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  317 

than  would  have  been  the  occupation  of  the  western  bank  of  the 
Sabine.  I  repeat,  that  during  eight  months,  we  had  been  west  of 
the  Nueces,  without  one"  word  of  complaint  for  having  passed  that 
river  *******  ** 

But,  sir,  passing  from  the  causes  to  the  conduct  of  the  war, 
another  broad  field  of  controversy  has  been  opened  to  us.  We 
are  attacked  along  our  whole  line.  The  reasons,  the  measures, 
the  motives,  the  objects  of  the  Administration  are  equally  called 
into  question.  I  do  not  flatter  myself,  that  any  views  I  can  pre- 
sent, will  influence  the  final  judgment,  which  the  Senate  and  the 
country  must  pronounce  on  this  great  controversy;  still,  I  have 
formed  an  opinion  for  myself,  and  desire  briefly  to  state  the  con- 
siderations, on  which  it  is  founded. 

In  order  justly  to  appreciate  the  probable  results  of  this  war,  it 
is  necessary  to  look  back  upon  the  condition  of  the  country,  at  its 
commencement.  What  was  that  commencement  ?  A  sudden  at- 
tack precipitated  a  Mexican  army  upon  a  detachment  of  American 
troops.  Twice  were  the  assailants  repulsed,  and  twice  was  the 
honor  of  our  arms  maintained,  and  two  brilliant  victories  were 
gained  under  circumstances,  which  no  American  can  recall,  with- 
out emotions  of  pride  and  patriotism.  We  had  made  but  inade- 
quate preparations  for  such  an  aggression.  Its  scene  was  almost 
two  thousand  miles  from  the  seat  of  government.  Our  whole  ar- 
my, of  which  only  a  portion  was  on  that  frontier,  did  not  exceed 
seven  thousand  men  scattered  along  the  coast  and  interior  bounda- 
ry of  this  vast  republic.  And  what  spectacle  was  exhibited  when 
the  news  of  this  aggression  broke  upon  the  public  ear  ?  The  ci- 
tizens of  Greece  and  Rome,  in  the  brightest  days  of  those  repub- 
lics, never  brought  to  the  altar  of  their  country  a  prouder  sacri- 
fice. There  was  one  universal  burst  of  patriotic  devotion.  More 
than  three  hundred  thousand  men  enrolled  themselves,  and  asked 
to  be  permitted  to  march  to  the  battle-field,  arid,  if  necessary,  to 
die  for  their  country.  I  have  seen  the  conscription  in  Europe,  by 
which  armies  are  kept  up,  and  freedom  is  kept  down  ;  and  I  have 
attended  the  drawing,  to  ascertain  the  circumstances  accompany- 
ing it.  And  a  melancholy  exhibition  it  is  of  power  on  one  side, 
of  repugnance  on  the  other.  The  young  men  are  collected  at  the 
place  assigned  for  this  lottery  of  life.  Their  numbers  are  drawn 
in  succession,  and  they  await  the  result  with  almost  fearful  anxiety  ; 
as  a  great  calamity  is  always  awaited  by  those  on  whom  it  may  fall 
and  who  are  yet  ignorant  where  it  will  strike,  and  where  it  will 
spare.  And  the  exultation  of  those,  who  escape,  and  the  depres- 
sion of  those,  who  do  not,  are  strikingly  displayed,  not  only  by  the 
parties  themselves,  but  by  their  immediate  connexions,  who  ac- 
company them,  and  await  the  result  with  an  apprehension,  scarce- 
ly inferior  to  their  own. 

But  here,  sir,  there  was  none  of  the  machinery,  by  which  un- 
willing citizens  are  made  conscripts  and  conscripts  are  made  un- 
willing soldiers.  As  I  remarked  on  a  former  occasion,  at  the  first 


318  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

tap  of  the  drum,  at  the  first  sound  of  the  bugle,  the  country  rose 
in  arms — the  artisan  left  his  tools  where  he  had  used  them — the 
farmer  his  plough  in  the  furrow — the  employments  of  life  were 
abandoned — and  a  spectacle  passed  before  our  eyes,  unseen  in 
modern  times.  It  has  been  computed,  that  almost  half  a  million 
of  men  appealed  to  their  Government  for  the  privilege  of  participa- 
ting in  the  vindication  of  its  honor,  and  in  the  defence  of  their 
country." 

The  policy  of  Gen.  Cass  was,  to  carry  on  the  war  vigorously, 
and  so  ensure  a  successful  and  speedy  termination  of  it.  This 
course  he  regarded  as  most  beneficial  to  both  countries.  The 
more  the  war  was  prolonged,  the  greater  probability  would  there 
be  of  swallowing  up  the  nationality  of  Mexico. 

On  a  subsequent  day,  in  tne  same  session  of  Congress,  while 
the  bill  was  yet  under  consideration  with  the  proposition  to  incor- 
porate in  it  the  "  Wilmot  Proviso,"  Gen.  Cass  addressed  the  Sen- 
ate more  particularly  in  reference  to  the  impropriety  of  adopting 
the  proviso,  and  the  influence  its  passage  would  have  upon  other 
necessary  and  important  measures  then  before  Congress. 

From  the  feelings  manifested  by  a  large  number  of  the  mem- 
bers, both  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the  Senate,  Gen. 
Cass  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  the  adoption  of  the  proviso 
would  be  detrimental  to  the  honorable  prosecution  of  the  war.  In- 
deed, it  appears  from  the  expression  of  opinion  by  the  leading 
members  of  both  Houses,  that  the  whole  question  of  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  war  depended  upon  the  decision  in  regard  to  the  pro- 
viso. The  choice  presented  was,  the  proviso  or  the  war.  If  the 
former  should  be  adopted,  there  would  be  an  inglorious  termina- 
tion of  the  war.  The  honor  of  the  United  States  was  at  stake. 
Gen.  Cass  felt  the  responsibility  of  his  position.  He  judged  that 
the  people  would  hold  to  strict  accountabiltiy  the  public  servants 
who,  at  a  crisis  so  eventful,  should  sacrifice  their  country's  honor 
and  interest  for  the  establishment  of  a  principle  inopportune  and 
inapplicable  to  the  great  subject  under  consideration.  He  had 
studied  public  opinion,  and  satisfied  himself  that  it  indicated  the 
conviction  existing  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  that  then  was  not 
the  time  for  the  agitation  of  a  question  involving  the  contingency 
of  a  domestic  dispute ;  a  question  sufficiently  important  of  itself, 
under  any  circumstances,  to  receive  the  most  mature  deliberation 


LIFB    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

of  Congress.  Six  out  of  eight  state  legislatures,  which  had  pre- 
sented their  views  to  Congress  on  the  subject  of  the  acquisition  of 
Mexican  territory  and  the  extension  of  slavery,  had  refrained  from 
urging  upon  Congress  the  adoption  of  the  proviso.  In  a  speech 
of  masterly  argument,  Gen.  Cass  laid  before  the  Senate  his  views 
on  this  question,  March  10th,  1847,  which  he  closed  with  the  fol- 
owing  declaration  of  what  would  be  his  action  upon  it : 

"  I  shall  vote  against  this  proviso,  because — 

"  1st.  The  present  is  no  proper  time  for  the  introduction  into 
the  country,  and  into  Congress,  of  an  exciting  topic,  tending  to 
divide  us,  when  our  united  exertions  are  necessary  to  prosecute 
the  existing  war. 

"2d.  It  will  be  quite  in  season  to  provide  for  the  government 
of  territory,  not  yet  acquired  from  foreign  countries,  after  we  shall 
have  obtained  it. 

"  3d.  The  proviso  can  only  apply  to  British  and  Mexican  terri- 
tories, as  there  are  no  others  coterminous  to  us.  Its  phraseology 
would  reach  either,  though  its  application  is  pointed  to  Mexico. 
It  seems  to  me,  that  to  express  so  much  confidence  in  the  success- 
ful result  of  this  war,  as  to  legislate  at  this  time,  if  not  over  this 
anticipated  acquisition,  at  least  for  it,  and  to  lay  down  a  partial 
basis  for  its  government,  would  do  us  no  good  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  and  would  irritate,  still  more,  the  Mexican  people. 

"  4th.  Legislation  now  would  be  wholly  inoperative,  because  no 
territory,  hereafter  to  be  acquired,  can  be  governed  without  an  act 
of  Congress,  providing  for  its  government.  And  such  an  act,  on 
its  passage,  would  open  the  whole  subject,  and  would  leave  the 
Congress  called  upon  to  pass  it,  free  to  exercise  its  own  discretion, 
entirely  uncontrolled  by  any  declaration  found  on  the  statute  book. 

"5th.  There  is  great  reason  to  think,  that  the  adoption  of  this 
proviso  would,  in  all  probability,  bring  the  war  to  an  untimely  is- 
sue, by  the  effect  it  would  have  on  future  operations. 

"  6th.  Its  passage  would  certainly  prevent  the  acquisition  of  one 
foot  of  territory  ;  thus  defeating  a  measure  called  for  by  a  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  American  people,  and  defeating  it,-  too,  by  the  very 
act  purporting  to  establish  a  partial  basis  for  its  government." 

The  Wilmot  Proviso  having  become  a  subject  of  serious  import, 
and  its  principle  regarded  as  dangerous  to  the  immediate  interests 
of  a  portion  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  the  proposed 
application  of  it  subversive  of  their  rights  as  citizens  of  the  con- 
federacy, an  expression  of  opinion  from  the  eminent  men  of  the 
Republic  was  solicited.  At  the  request  of  a  number  of  leading 
members  of  Congress,  Gen.  Cass  consented  to  the  publication  of 
a  letter  written  by  him  to  Hon.  A.  O.  P.  Nicholson,  a  distinguish- 


320  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

ed  citizen  of  Tennessee,  setting  forth  his  views  on  the  subject  of 
the  proviso.  This  celebrated  letter,  so  often  referred  to  and  made 
the  subject  of  comment,  from  the  day  of  ita  publication  to  the  pre- 
sent time,  is  an  important  document  to  all  who  wish  to  understand 
the  views  of  its  distinguished  author,  as  expressed  by  himself,  on 
the  great  question  which  it  discusses,  and  is  here  given  entire : 

Letter  from  Hon.  Leivis  Cass  on  the  War  and  the  Wilmot  Proviso. 

WASHINGTON,  December  24,  1847. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  received  your  letter,  and  shall  answer  it  as 
frankly  as  it  is  written. 

You  ask  me  whether  I  am  in  favor  of  the  acquisition  of  Mexi- 
can territory,  and  what  are  my  sentiments  with  regard  to  the  Wil- 
mpt  Proviso  ? 

I  have  so  often  and  so  explicitly  stated  my  views  of  the  first 
question,  in  the  Senate,  that  it  seems  almost  unnecessary  to  repeat 
them  here.  As  you  request  it,  however,  I  shall  briefly  give  them. 

I  think,  then,  that  no  peace  should  be  granted  to  Mexico,  till  a 
reasonable  indemnity  is  obtained  for  the  injuries  which  she  has 
done  us.  The  territorial  extent  of  this  indemnity  is,  in  the  first 
instance,  a  subject  of  Executive  consideration.  There  the  Con- 
stitution has  placed  it,  and  there  I  am  willing  to  leave  it;  not  only 
because  I  have  full  confidence  in  its  judicious  exercise,  but  be- 
cause, in  the  ever-varying  circumstances  of  a  war,  it  would  be  in- 
discreet, by  a  public  declaration,  to  commit  the  country  to  any  line 
of  indemnity,  which  might  otherwise  be  enlarged,  as  the  obstinate 
injustice  {of  the  enemy  prolongs  the  contest,  with  its  loss  of  blood 
and  treasure. 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  kind  of  metaphysical  magnanimity, 
which  would  reject  all  indemnity  at  the  close  of  a  bloody  and  ex- 
pensive war,  brought  on  by  a  direct  attack  upon  our  troops  by  the 
enemy,  and  preceded  by  a  succession  of  unjust  acts  for  a  series  of 
years,  is  as  unworthy  of  the  age  in  which  we  live,  as  it  is  revolt- 
ing to  the  common  sense  and  practice  of  mankind.  It  would  con- 
duce but  little  to  our  future  security,  or,  indeed  to  our  present 
reputation,  to  declare  that  we  repudiate  all  expectation  of  compen- 
sation from  the  Mexican  government,  and  are  fighting,  not  for  any 
practical  result,  but  for  some  vague,  perhaps  philanthropic  object, 
which  escapes  my  penetration,  and  must  be  defined  by  those  who 
assume  this  new  principle  of  national  intercommunication.  All 
wars  are  to  be  deprecated,  as  well  by  the  statesman,  as  by  the  phi- 
lanthropist. They  are  great  evils ;  but  there  are  greater  evils  than 
these,  and  submission  to  injustice  is  among  them.  The  nation 
which  should  refuse  to  defend  its  rights  and  its  honor,  when  assail- 
ed, would  soon  have  neither  to  defend ;  and  when  driven  to  war, 
it  is  not  by  professions  of  disinterestedness  and  declarations  of 
magnanimity,  that  its  rational  objects  can  be  best  obtained,  or 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS  321 

other  nations  taught  a  lesson  of  forbearance — the  strongest  secu- 
rity for  permanent  peace.  We  are  at  war  with  Mexico,  and  its 
vigorous  prosecution  is  the  surest  means  of  its  speedy  termination, 
and  ample  indemnity  .the  surest  guaranty  against  the  recurrence 
of  such  injustice  as  provoked  it. 

The  Wilmot  proviso  has  been  before  the  country  some  time.  It 
has  been  repeatedly  discussed  in  Congress,  and  by  the  public  press. 
I  am  strongly  impressed  with  the  opinion,  that  a  great  change  has 
been  going  on  in  the  public  mind  upon  this  subject — in  my  own 
as  well  as  others ;  and  that  doubts  are  resolving  themselves  into 
convictions,  that  the  principle  it  involves  should  be  kept  out  of  the 
National  Legislature,  and  left  to  the  people  of  the  confederacy  in 
their  respective  local  governments. 

The  whole  subject  is  a  comprehensive  one,  and  fruitful  of  im- 
portant consequences.  It  would  be  ill-timed  to  discuss  it  here.  I 
shall  not  assume  that  responsible  task,  but  shall  confine  myself  to 
such  general  views  as  are  necessary  to  the  fair  exhibition  of  my 
opinions. 

We  may  well  regret  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  southern 
States,  and  wish  they  had  been  saved  from  its  introduction.  But 
there  it  is,  and  not  by  the  act  of  the  present  generation ;  and  we 
must  deal  with  it  as  a  great  practical  question,  involving  the  most 
momentous  consequences.  We  have  neither  the  right  nor  the 
power  to  touch  it  where  it  exists ;  and  if  we  had  both,  their  exer- 
cise, by  any  means  heretofore  suggested,  might  lead  to  results 
which  no  wise  man  would  willingly  encounter,  and  which  no  good 
man  could  contemplate  without  anxiety. 

The  theory  of  our  Government  presupposes  that  its  various 
members  have  reserved  to  themselves  the  regulation  of  all  subjects 
relating  to  what  may  be  termed  their  internal  police.  They  are 
sovereign  within  their  boundaries,  except  in  those  cases  where 
they  have  surrendered  to  the  General  Government  a  portion  of 
their  rights,  in  order  to  give  effect  to  the  objects  of  the  Union, 
whether  these  concern  foreign  nations  or  the  several  States  them- 
selves. Local  institutions,  if  I  may  so  speak,  whether  they  have 
reference  to  slavery,  or  to  any  other  relations,  domestic  or  public, 
are  left  to  local  authority,  either  original  or  derivative.  Congress 
has  no  right  to  say  that  there  shall  be  slavery  in  New  York,  or  that 
there  shall  be  no  slavery  in  Georgia ;  nor  is  there  any  other  human 
power  but  the  people  of  those  States,  respectively,  which  can 
change  the  relations  existing  therein ;  and  they  can  say,  if  they 
will,  We  will  have  slavery  in  the  former,  and  we  will  abolish  it  in 
the  latter. 

In  various  respects  the  Territories  differ  from  the  States.  Some 
of  their  rights  are  inchoate,  and  they  do  not  possess  the  peculiar 
attributes  of  sovereignty.  Their  relation  to  the  General  Govern- 
ment is  very  imperfectly  denned  by  the  Constitution ;  and  it  will 
be  found,  upon  examination,  that  in  that  instrument  the  only  grant 
of  power  concerning  them  is  conveyed  in  the  phrase,  '•  Congress 

21  •'"••' 


322  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CAS8. 

shall  have  the  power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all  needful  rules  and 
regulations  respecting  the  territory  and  other  property  belonging 
to  the  United  States."  Certainly  this  phraseology  is  very  loose,  if 
it  were  designed  to  include  in  the  grant  the  whole  power  of  legis- 
lation over  persons,  as  well  as  things.  The  expression,  the  "  ter- 
ritory and  other  property,"  fairly  construed,  relates  to  the  public 
lands,  as  such,  to  arsenals,  dock-yards,  forts,  ships,  and  all  the 
various  kinds  of  property,  which  the  United  States  may  and  must 
possess. 

But  surely  the  simple  authority  to  dispose  of  and  regulate  these, 
does  not  extend  to  the  unlimited  power  of  legislation ;  to  the  pas- 
sage of  all  laws,  in  the  most  general  acceptation  of  the  word ; 
which,  by  the  by,  is  carefully  excluded  from  the  sentence.  And, 
indeed,  if  this  were  so,  it  would  render  unnecessary  another  pro- 
vision of  the  Constitution,  which  grants  to  Congress  the  power  to 
legislate,  with  the  consent  of  the  States,  respectively,  over  all 
places  purchased  for  the  "  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals, 
dock-yards,"  &c.  These  being  the  "property"  of  the  United 
States,  if  the  power  to  make  "  needful  rules  and  regulations  con- 
cerning" them  includes  the  general  power  of  legislation,  then  the 
grant  of  authority  to  regulate  "  the  territory  and  other  property  of 
the  United  States"  is  unlimited,  wherever  subjects  are  found  for 
its  operation,  and  its  exercise  needed  no  auxiliary  provision.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  does  not  include  such  power  of  legislation 
over  the  "other  property"  of  the  United  States,  then  it  does  not 
include  it  over  their  "territory;"  for  the  same  terms  which  grant 
the  one,  grant  the  other.  "  Territory''  is  here  classed  with  pro- 
perty, and  treated  as  such  ;  and  the  object  was  evidently  to  enable 
the  General  Government,  as  a  property-holder — which,  from  ne- 
cessity, it  must  be — to  manage,  preserve,  and  "  dispose  of"  such 
property  as  it  might  possess,  and  which  authority  is  essential  al- 
most to  its  being.  But  the  lives  and  persons  of  our  citizens,  with 
the  vast  variety  of  objects  connected  with  them,  cannot  be  con- 
trolled by  an  authority  which  is  merely  called  into  existence  for 
the  purpose  of  making  rules  and  regulations  for  the  disposition 
and  management  of  property. 

Such,  it  appears  to  me,  would  be  the  construction  put  upon  this 
provision  of  the  Constitution,  were  this  question  now  first  present- 
ed for  consideration,  and  not  controlled  by  imperious  circumstan- 
ces. The  original  ordinance  of  the  Congress  of  the  Confedera- 
tion, passed  in  1787,  and  which  was  the  only  act  upon  this  subject 
in  force  at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  provided  a  complete 
frame  of  government  for  the  country  north  of  the  Ohio,  while  in 
a  tenitorial  condition,  and  for  its  eventual  admission  in  separate 
States  into  the  Union.  And  the  persuasion,  that  this  ordinance 
contained  within  itself  all  the  necessary  means  of  execution,  pro- 
bably prevented  any  direct  reference  to  the  subject  in  the  consti- 
tution, further  than  vesting  in  Congress  the  right  to  admit  the 
States  formed  under  it  into  the  Union.  However,  circumstances 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

arose  which  required  legislation,  as  well  orer  the  territory  north 
of  the  Ohio,  as  over  other  territory,  both  within  and  without  the 
original  Union,  ceded  to  the  General  Government ;  and,  at  various 
times,  a  more  enlarged  power  has  been  exercised  over  the  Terri- 
tories— meaning  thereby  the  different  Territorial  Governments — 
than  is  conveyed  by  the  limited  grant  referred  to.  How  far  an 
existing  necessity  may  have  operated  in  producing  this  legislation, 
and  thus  extending,  by  rather  a  violent  implication,  powers  not  di- 
rectly given,  I  know  not.  But  certain  it  is,  that  the  principle  of 
interference  should  not  be  earned  beyond  the  necessary  implica- 
tion which  produces  it.  It  should  be  limited  to  the  creation  of 
proper  governments  for  new  countries,  acquired  or  settled,  and 
to  the  necessary  provision  for  their  eventual  admission  into 
the  Union ;  leaving,  in  the  meantime,  to  the  people  inhabiting 
them,  to  regulate  their  internal  concerns  in  their  own  way.  They 
are  just  as  capable  of  doing  so  as  the  people  of  the  States ;  and 
they  can  do  so,  at  any  rate,  as  soon  as  their  political  independence 
is  recognized  by  admission  into  the  Union.  During  this  tempo- 
rary condition,  it  is  hardly  expedient  to  call  into  exercise  a  doubt- 
ful and  invidious  authority,  which  questions  the  intelligence  of  a 
respectable  portion  of  our  citizens,  and  whose  limitation,  whatever 
it  may  be,  will  be  rapidly  approaching  its  termination — an  author- 
ity which  would  give  to  Congress  despotic  power,  uncontrolled  by 
the  Constitution,  over  most  important  sections  of  our  common 
country.  For,  if  the  relation  of  master  and  servant  may  be  regu- 
lated or  annihilated  by  its  legislation,  so  may  the  relation  of  hus- 
band and  wife,  of  parent  and  child,  and  of  any  other  condition 
which  our  institutions  and  the  habits  of  our  society  recognize. 
What  would  be  thought  if  Congress  should  undertake  to  prescribe 
the  terms  of  marriage  in  New  York,  or  to  regulate  the  authority 
of  parents  over  their  children  in  Pennsylvania  1  And  yet  it  would 
be  as  vain  to  seek  one  justifying  the  interference  of  the  National 
Legislature  in  the  cases  referred  to  in  the  original  States  of  the 
Union.  I  speak  here  of  the  inherent  power  of  Congress,  and  do 
not  touch  the  question  of  such  contracts  as  may  be  formed  with 
new  States  when  admitted  into  the  Confederacy. 

Of  all  the  questions  that  can  agitate  us,  those  which  are  merely 
sectional  in  their  character  are  the  most  dangerous,  and  the  most 
to  be  deprecated.  The  warning  voice  of  him  who,  from  his  char- 
acter, and  services,  and  virtue,  had  the  best  right  to  warn  us,  pro-  * 
claimed  to  his  countrymen,  in  his  Farejvell  Address — that  monu- 
ment of  wisdom  for  him,  as  I  hope  it  will  be  of  safety  for  them — 
how  much  we  had  to  apprehend  from  measures  peculiarly  affect- 
ing geographical  portions  of  our  country.  The  grave  circumstan- 
ces in  which  we  are  now  placed  make  these  words,  words  of  safe- 
ty ;  for  I  am  satisfied  from  all  I  have  seen  and  heard  here,  that  a 
successful  attempt  to  ingraft  the  principles  of  the  Wilmot  proviso 
upon  the  legislation  of  this  Government,  and  to  apply  them  to  new 
territory,  should  new  territory  be  acquired,  would  seriously  affect 


524  LIFE    OF    OENJrRAL    CASS. 

our  tranquillity.  I  do  not  suffer  myself  to  foresee  or  to  foretell 
the  consequences  that  would  ensue ;  for  I  trust  and  believe  there 
is  good  sense  and  good  feeling  enough  in  the  country  to  avoid 
them,  by  avoiding  all  occasions  which  might  lead  to  them. 

Briefly,  then,  I  am  opposed  to  the  exercise  of  any  jurisdiction 
by  Congress  over  this  matter  ;  and  I  am  in  favor  of  leaving  to  the 
people  of  any  territory,  which  may  be  hereafter  acquired,  the  right 
to  regulate  it  for  themselves,  under  the  general  principles  of  the 
Constitution.  Because — 

1.  I  do  not  see  in  the  Constitution  any  grant  of  the  requisite 
power  to  Congress ;  and  I  am  not  disposed  to  extend  a  doubtful 
precedent  beyond  its  necessity — the  establishment  of  Territorial 
"Governments  when  needed — leaving  to  the    inhabitants  all  the 
rights  compatible  with  the  relations  they  bear  to  the  Confedera- 
tion. 

2.  Because  I  believe  this  measure,  if  adopted,  would  weaken,  if 
not  impair,  the  Union  of  the  States ;  and  would  sow  the  seeds  of 
"future  discord,  which  would  grow  up  and  ripen  into  an  abundant 
harvest  of  calamity. 

3.  Because  I  believe  a  general  conviction,  that  such  a  proposi- 
tion would  succeed,  would  lead  to  an  immediate  withholding  of 
the  supplies,  and  thus  to  a  dishonorable  termination  of  the  war. 
I  think  no  dispassionate  observer  at  the  seat  of  government  can 
doubt  this  result. 

4.  If,  however,  in  this  I  am  under  a  misapprehension,  I  am  un- 
der none  in  the  practical  operation  of  this  restriction,  if  adopted  by 
Congress,  upon  a  treaty  of  peace  making  any  acquisition  of  Mex- 
ican territory.     Such  a  treaty  would  be  rejected  just  as  certainly 
as  presented  to  the  Senate.     More  than  one-third  of  that  body 
would  vote  against  it,  viewing  such  a  principle  as  an  exclusion  of 
the  citizens  of  the  slave  holding  states  from  a  participation  in  the 
benefits  acquired  by  the  treasure  and  exertions  of  all,  and  which 
should  be  common  to  all.     I  am  repeating — neither  advancing  nor 
defending  these  views.      That  branch  of  the  subject  does  not  lie 
in  my  way,  and  I  shall  not  turn  aside  to  seek  it. 

In  this  aspect  of  the  matter,  the  people  of  the  United  States  must 

choose  between  this  restriction  and  the  extension  of  their  territo- 

*rial  limits.     They  cannot  have  both  ;  and  which  they  will  surren- 

der  must  depend  upon  their  representatives  first,  and  then,  if  these 

fail  them,  upon  themselves. 

5.  But,  after  all,  it  seems  to  be  generally p  conceded,  that  this 
restriction,  if  carried  into  effect,  could  not  operate  upon  any  state 

-  to  be  formed  from  newly-acquired  territory.  The  well-known  at- 
tributes of  sovereignty,  recognized  by  us  as  belonging  to  the  state 
governments,  would  sweep  before  them  any  such  barrier,  and 
would  leave  the  people  to  express  and  exert  their  will  at  pleasure. 
Is  the  object,  then,  of  temporary  exclusion  for  so  short  a  period  as 
the  duration  of  the  territorial  governments,  worth  the  price  at 
which  it  would  be  purchased  ? — worth  the  discord  it  would  en- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASf.  325 

gender,  the  trial  to  which  it  would  expose  our  Union,  and  the  evils 
that  would  be  the  certain  consequence,  let  that  trial  result  as  it 
might  ?  As  to  the  course,  which  has  been  intimated  rather  than 
proposed,  of  ingrafting  such  a  restriction  upon  any  treaty  of  ac- 
quistion,  I  persuade  myself  it  would  find  but  little  favor  in  any 
portion  of  this  country.  Such  an  arrangement  would  render  Mex- 
ico a  party,  having  a  right  to  interfere  in  our  internal  institutions 
in  questions  left  by  the  Constitution  to  the  state  governments,  and 
would  inflict  a  serious  blow  upon  our  fundamental  principles.  Few, 
indeed,  I  trust,  there  are  among  us  who  would  thus  grant  to  a  for- 
eign power  the  right  to  inquire  into  the  constitution  and  conduct 
of  the  sovereign  states  ol  this  Union  ;  and  if  there  are  any,  I  am 
not  among  them,  and  never  shall  be.  To  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try, under  God,  now  and  hereafter,  are  its  destinies  committed  ;. 
and  we  want  no  foreign  power  to  interrogate  us,  treaty  in  hand, 
and  to  say,  Why  have  you  done  this,  or  why  have  you  left  that 
undone?  Our  own  dignity  and  the  principles  of  the  national  in- 
dependence unite  to  repel  such  a  proposition. 

But  there  is  another  important  consideration,  which  ought  not 
to  be  lost  sight  of,  in  the  investigation  of  this  subject.  The  ques- 
tion that  presents  itself  is  not  a  question  of  the  increase,  but  of  the 
diffusion  of  slavery.  Whether  its  sphere  be  stationary  or  progres- 
sive, its  amount  will  be  the  same.  The  rejection  of  this  restric- 
tion will  not  add  one  to  the  class  of  servitude,  nor  will  its  adop- 
tion give  freedom  to  a  single  being  who  is  now  placed  therein. 
The  same  numbers  will  be  spread  over  greater  territory  ;  and  so 
far  as  compression,  with  less  abundance  of  the  necessaries  of  life,. 
is  an  evil,  so  far  will  that  evil  be  mitigated  by  transporting  slaves 
to  a  new  country,  and  giving  them  a  larger  space  to  occupy. 

I  say  this  in  the  event  of  the  extension  of  slavery  over  any  new 
acquisition.  But  can  it  go  there?  This  may  well  be  doubted. 
All  the  descriptions,  which  reach  us  of  the  condition  of  the  Ca!i- 
fornias  and  of  New  Mexico,  to  the  acquisition  of  which  our  efforts 
seem  at  present  directed,  unite  in  representing  those  countries  as 
agricultural  regions,  similar  in  their  products  to  our  Middle  States, 
and  generally  unfit  for  the  production  of  the  great  staples,  which 
can  alone  render  slave  labor  valuable.  If  we  are  not  grossly  de- 
ceived— and  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  we  can  be — the  inhab- 
itants of  those  regions,  whether  they  depend  upon  their  ploughs  or 
their  herds,  cannot  be  slave  holders.  Involuntary  labor,  requiring 
the  investment  of  large  capital,  can  only  be  profitable  when  em- 
ployed in  the  production  of  a  few  favored  articles  confined  by  na- 
ture to  special  districts,  and  paying  larger  returns  than  the  usual 
agricultural  products  spread  over  more  considerable  portions  of 
the  earth. 

In  the  able  letter  of  Mr.  Buchanan  upon  this  subject,  not  long 
since  given  to  the  public,  he  presents  similar  considerations  with 
great  force.  "Neither,"  says  this  distinguished  writer,  "the  soil, 
the  climate,  nor  the  productions  of  California  south  of  thirty-six. 


326  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

degrees  thirty  minutes,  nor  indeed  of  any  portion  of  it,  north  or 
south,  is  adapted  to  slave  labor ;  and  besides,  every  facility  would 
be  there  afforded  for  the  slave  to  escape  from  his  master.  Such 
property  would  be  entirely  insecure  in  any  part  of  California.  It 
is  morally  impossible,  therefore,  that  a  majority  of  the  emigrants 
to  that  portion  of  the  territory  south  of  thirty-six  degrees  thirty 
minutes,  which  will  be  chiefly  composed  of  our  citizens,  will  ever 
re-establish  slavery  within  its  limits. 

'•In  regard  to  New  Mexico,  east  of  the  Rio  Grande,  the  ques- 
tion has  already  been  settled  by  the  admission  of  Texas  into  the 
Union. 

"  Should  we  acquire  territory  beyond  the  Rio  Grande  and  east 
of  the  Rocky  mountains,  it  is  still  more  impossible  that  a  majority 
of  the  people  would  consent  to  re-establish  slavery.  They  are 
themselves  a  colored  population,  and  among  them  the  negro  does 
not  belong  socially  to  a  degraded  race." 

With  this  last  remark  Mr.  Walker  fully  coincides  in  his  letter 
written  in  1844,  upon  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  which  every- 
where produced  so  favorable  an  impression  upon  the  public  mind, 
as  to  have  conduced  very  materially  to  the  accomplishment  of  that 
great  measure.  "  Beyond  the  Del  Norte,"  says  Mr.  Walker, 
"slavery  will  not  pass ;  not  only  because  it  is  forbidden  by  law, 
but  because  the  colored  race  there  preponderates  in  the  ratio  of 
ten  to  one  over  the  whites :  and  holding,  as  they  do,  the  govern- 
ment and  most  of  the  offices  in  their  possession,  they  will  not  per- 
mit the  enslavement  of  any  portion  of  the  colored  race,  which 
makes  and  executes  the  laws  of  the  country." 

The  question,  it  will  be  therefore  seen  on  examination,  does  not 
regard  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  a  region  where  it  now  exists, 
but  a  prohibition  against  its  introduction  where  it  does  not  exist, 
and  where,  from  the  feelings  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  laws  of 
nature,  "it  is  morally  impossible,"  as  Mr.  Buchanan  says,  that  it 
can  ever  re-establish  itself. 

It  augurs  well  for  the  permanence  of  our  confederation,  that  du- 
ring more  than  half  a  century,  which  had  elapsed  since  the  estab- 
lishment of  this  government,  many  serious  questions,  and  some  of 
the  highest  importance,  have  agitated  the  public  mind,  and  more 
than  once  threatened  the  gravest  consequences  ;  but  that  they  have 
all  in  succession  passed  away,  leaving  our  institutions  unscathed, 
and  our  country  advancing  in  numbers,  power,  and  wealth,  and 
in  all  the  other  elements  of  national  prosperity,  with  a  rapidity 
unknown  in  ancient  or  in  modern  days.  In  times  of  political  ex- 
citement, when  difficult  and  delicate  questions  present  themselves 
for  solution,  there  is  one  ark  of  safety  for  us  ;  and  that  is,  an  hon- 
est appeal  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  Union,  and  a  stern 
determination  to  abide  their  dictates.  This  course  of  proceeding 
has  carried  us  in  safety  through  many  a  trouble,  and  I  trust  will 
carry  us  safely  through  many  more,  should  many  more  be  destined 
to  assail  us.  The  Wilmot  Proviso  seeks  to  take  from  its  legitimate 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

tribunal  a  question  of  domestic  policy,  having  no  relation  to  the 
Union,  as  such,  and  to  transfer  it  to  another  created  by  the  peo- 
ple for  a  special  purpose,  and  foreign  to  the  subject-matter  involv- 
ed in  this  issue.  By  going  back  to  our  true  principles,  we  go 
back  to  the  road  of  peace  and  safety.  Leave  to  the  people,  who 
will  be  affected  by  this  question,  to  adjust  it  upon  their  own  re- 
sponsibility, and  in  their  own  manner,  and  we  shall  render  anoth- 
er tribute  to  the  original  principles  of  our  government,  and  furnish 
another  guarantee  for  its  permanence  and  prosperity. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

LEWIS  CASS. 

A.  O.  P.  NICHOLSON,  Esq.,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

The  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  foregoing  letter  will  at  once  im- 
press the  reader  with  the  patriotism  and  nationality  of  Gen.  Cass. 
Undoubtedly  it  was  the  offspring  of  a  conviction  in  the  mind  of  the 
distinguished  writer,  that  the  pressing  upon  Congress  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Proviso  at  that  time,  was  urging  that  body,  not  only  to 
give  its  sanction  to  an  act  of  legislation,  useless  in  itself,  so  far  as 
its  diruct  object  was  sought  to  be  attained,  but  asking  its  interpo- 
sitiqn  in  a  shape  which  was,  by  many  of  the  eminent  men  of  the 
country,  considered  unconstitutional,  besides  directly  opposing  the 
wishes  of  a  large  portion  of  the  members  of  the  Union ;  creating 
causes  for  discord  and  domestic  hostility  and  endangering  the  honor 
and  well-being  of  the  Republic,  and  which,  in  the  aspect  in  which  it 
was  presented  to  Congress,  did  not  need  the  action  of  that  body. 
Gen.  Cass  expressly  states  his  opinion  to  be,  "  that  slavery  never 
would  extend  to  California  or  New  Mexico,  and  that  the  inhabit- 
ants of  those  regions,  whether  they  depend  on  their  ploughs  or 
their  herds,  cannot  be  slave  holders."  He  treats  the  question  as 
one,  not  having  reference  to  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  a  region 
where  it  existed,  but  a  prohibition  against  its  introduction  where 
it  did  not  exist,  and  where,  from  the  feelings  of  the  inhabitants 
and  the  laws  of  nature,  it  is  morally  impossible  it  could  establish 
itself.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  the  views  expressed  by  Gen.  Cass 
in  the  foregoing  letter,  have  not  only  entered  into  and  marked  the 
legislation  of  Congress  on  the  subject,  but  have  also  been,  within 
the  last  two  years,  adopted  by  many  of  the  most  eminent  men  in 
the  country,  establishing  firmly  the  soundness  of  the  position  as- 
sumed by  Gen.  Cass  at  the  commencement  of  the  agitation  of  the 
question. 


328  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

The  energetic  prosecution  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  was  re  peat- 
edly  urged  upon  the  consideration  of  the  Senate,  by  Gen.  Cass. 
As  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  he  held  a  po- 
sition of  great  responsibility,  and  introduced  a  series  of  bills  whose 
provisions  were  admirably  calculated  to  accomplish  a  successful 
termination  of  the  war.  There  were  parties  who  were  unsparing 
in  their  condemnation  of  the  administration  and  its  friends,  and 
were  disposed  to  leave  the  army  in  Mexico  unprovided  for  and  un- 
aided. It  was  charged  upon  the  administration  that  it  was  its  in- 
tention to  subjugate  Mexico  and  destroy  its  nationality,  notwith- 
standing the  repeated  declaration  by  the  President  and  his  support- 
ers that  no  such  result  was  ever  even  dreamed  of,  and  in  the  face 
of  Gen.  Cass'  own  assertion,  that  it  would  be  a  very  unfortunate 
thing  to  extinguish  the  independence  of  Mexico  and  annex  that  coun- 
try to  our  own.  The  administration,  after  the  war  was  commenced, 
sought  only  for  redress  and  indemnification  for  injuries  sustained, 
and  its  policy  was  to  go  on  with  the  war  until  Mexico  would  agree 
to  an  honorable  peace.  To  attain  this  desirable  object,  Gen. 
Cass  introduced  the  bill,  to  raise  for  a  limited  time,  an  additional 
military  force — proposing  that  ten  regiments  of  infantry  should  be 
added  to  the  force  already  in  }he  field  to  serve  during  the  war. 
The  discussion  of  this  bill  afforded  an  opportunity  for  the  opposers 
of  the  administration  and  the  war  to  exhibit  their  hostility.  The 
American  army  had  been  successful  ;  the  hosts  of  Mexico  had  fled 
before  it  and  her  towns  and  cities  were  in  possession  of  the  con- 
querors; the"  Halls  of  Montezuma"  were  decorated  with  the  star 
spangled  banner,  and  the  national  music  of  the  Union  sounded 
within  her  ancient  Capitol,  yet  no  overtures  of  peace  were  made. 
The  soldiers  of  our  army,  eight  or  ten  thousand  strong,  were  far 
in  the  interior  of  the  enemy's  country,  surrounded  by  angry  and 
exasperated  natives,  among  whom  they  had  marched,  forcing  their 
way  with  the  sword,  until  they  stood  victors  within  the  gates  of 
the  city  of  Mexico.  The  diseases  of  the  climate  and  the  hazards 
of  war  might  change  within  a  short  period  the  relative  position  of 
the  conquerors  and  conquered.  To  avoid  such  disaster — to  se- 
cure what  that  gallant  army  had  achieved — to  put  beyond  hazard 
a  brilliant  and  glorious  termination,  of  the  war,  was  the  object 
sought  for  by  Gen.  Cass  in  urging  the  increase  of  the  army  in 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  329 

Mexico.  He  urged  it  upon  the  obvious  ground,  that  if  a  large 
force  was  raised  and  despatched  to  Mexico,  the  Mexicans  would 
be  convinced  that  peace  would  be  their  only  means  of  salvation ; 
and  that  the  more  vigorous  our  preparations,  the  more  fixed  our 
determination  to  act  with  vigor  and  energy,  the  sooner  would  peace 
be  sought  for  by  a  conquered  enemy.  It  was  surely  an  act  of  wise 
precaution  to  strengthen  the  forces  in  Mexico  against  all  contin- 
gency of  disaster,  in  the  event  of  the  prolongation  of  active  war- 
fare. It  was  in  introducing  this  bill  to  the  notice  of  the  Senate, 
that  Gen.  Cass  paid  the  following  eloquent  tribute  to  the  bravery 
of  the  citizen  soldiers  in  Mexico  : 

"  There  is  one  point,  sir,  where  we  can  all  meet,  and  that  is  the 
gallantry  and  good  conduct  of  our  country.  This  is  one  of  the 
high  places  to  which  we  can  come  up  together,  and  laying  aside 
our  party  dissension,  mingle  our  congratulations  that  our  country 
has  had  such  sons  to  go  forth  to  battle,  and  that  they  have  gather- 
ed such  a  harvest  of  renown  in  distant  fields.  The  time  has  been, 
and  there  are  those  upon  this  floor  who  remember  it  well,  when 
our  national  flag  was  said  to  be  but  striped  bunting,  and  our  arm- 
ed vessels  but  fir-built  frigates.  The  feats  of  our  army  and  navy, 
in  our  last  war  with  England,  redeemed  us  from  this  reproach,  the 
offspring  of  foreign  jealousy  ;  and  had  they  not,  the  events  of  the 
present  war  would  have  changed  these  epithets  into  terms  of  hon- 
or ;  for  our  flag  has  become  a  victorious  standard,  borne  by  march- 
ing columns,  over  the  hills  and  vallies,  and  through  the  cities  and 
towns  and  fields  of  a  powerful  nation,  in  a  career  of  success,  of 
which  few  examples  can  be  found  in  ancient  or  modern  warfare. 

"  The  movement  of  our  army  from  Puebla,  was  one  of  the  most 
romantic  and  remarkable  events  which  ever  occurred  in  the  mili- 
tary annals  of  any  country.  Our  troops  did  not  indeed  burn  their 
fleet,  like  the  first  conquerors  of  Mexico,  for  they  needed  not  to 
gather  courage  from  despair,  nor  to  stimulate  their  resolution  by 
destroying  all  hopes  of  escape.  But  they  voluntarily  cut  off  all 
means  of  communication  with  their  own  country,  by  throwing 
themselves  among  the  armed  thousands  of  another,  and  advancing 
with  stout  hearts  but  feeble  numbers  into  the  midst  of  a  hostile 
country.  The  uncertainty  which  hung  over  the  public  mind,  and 
the  anxiety  every  where  felt,  when  our  gallant  little  army  disap- 
peared from  our  view,  will  not  be  forgotten  during  the  present 
generation.  There  was  universal  pause,  of  expectation — hoping, 
but  still  fearing ;  and  the  eyes  of  twenty  millions  of  people  were 
anxiously  fixed  upon  another  country  which  a  little  band  of  its 
armed  citizens  had  invaded.  A  veil  concealed  them  from  our 
view.  They  were  lost  to  us  for  fifty  days  ;  for  that  period  elapsed, 
from  the  time  when  we  heard  of  their  departure  from  Puebla  till 
accounts  reached  us  of  the  issue  of  the  movement.  The  shroud 


330  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

which  enveloped  them  gave  way,  and  \ve  discovered  our  glorious 
flag  waving  in  the  breezes  of  the  capital,  and  the  city  itself  invest- 
ed by  our  army. 

"  If  we  recorded  our  history  on  stone,  as  was  done  in  the  primi- 
tive ages  of  the  world,  we  should  engrave  this  series  of  glorious 
deeds  upon  tables  of  marble.  But  we  shall  do  better  ;  we  shall 
engrave  it  upon  our  hearts,  and  we  shall  commit  it  to  the  custody 
of  the  press,  whose  monuments,  frail  and  feeble  as  they  appear, 
yet  from  their  wonderful  power  of  multiplication,  are  more  endu- 
ring than  brass  or  marble,  than  statues  or  pyramids,  or  the  proud- 
est monuments  erected  by  human  hands.  Let  it  be  remembered, 
sir,  that  these  battles  were  fought  in  a  great  measure  by  new  and 
undisciplined  troops,  hastily  called  at  home,  and  speedily  marched 
to  the  seat  of  warfare.  By  men  who  had  abandoned  the  duties  and 
comforts  of  domestic  life,  and  who  made  war  not  a  trade  as  in  Eu- 
rope, but  a  temporary  employment  in  order  to  defend  the  interests 
and  honor  of  their  country.  And  even  the  small  regular  army, 
which  existed  at  the  commencement  of  the  war,  had  seen  little  ac- 
tive service  in  the  field,  and  that  not  with  a  civilized  foe,  but  in 
murderous  conflicts  with  Indian  tribes,  where  there  was  much  ex- 
posure to  meet  and  little  glory  to  gain.  Many  of  the  officers  and 
soldiers,  and  indeed  a  great  majority  of  them,  and  some  of  their 
commanders,  too,  saw  the  first  gun  fired  in  the  very  field  which 
they  illustrated  by  their  deeds,  and  moistened  with  their  blood, 
honor,  then,  to  the  highest  and  to  the  lowest,  to  the  greatest  and 
the  least — honor  to  the  living  and  the  dead — those  who  survive  to 
enjoy  it,  and  to  the  memory  of  those  who  sleep  in  a  soldier's  grave, 
far  from  the  land  they  loved  so  well.  And  happy  am  I  to  see  upon 
this  floor  at  this  moment,  particularly  one  of  the  gallant  officers, 
who  have  inscribed  their  names  high  upon  the  military  roll  of  their 
country,  and  there  are  others  like  him  in  this  city,  who  have  re- 
turned from  the  campaign  in  which  they  distinguished  themselves, 
bearing  upon  their  persons  ineffaceable  marks  of  courage  and  pa- 
triotism. A  kind  Providence  has  permitted  them  to  come  back, 
and  the  plaudit  of  grateful  millions  "  well  done  good  and  faithful 
servants"  is  the  proud  welcome  which  greets  them.  Let  modern 
philanthropists  talk  as  they  please,  the  instincts  of  nature  are  truer 
than  the  doctrines  they  preach.  Military  renown  is  one  of  the 
elements  of  national  strength,  as  it  is  one  of  the  proudest  sources 
of  gratification  to  every  man  who  loves  his  country  and  desires  to 
see  her  occupy  a  distinguished  position,  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  I  should  have  been  proud  to  have  been  in  Europe  during 
our  military  operations  in  Mexico — proud  to  witness  the  effect  of 
the  skill  and  prowess  of  our  army  upon  the  statesman  and  politi- 
cians and  communities  of  the  old  world." 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  American  army  was  then  three 
thousand  miles  from  home,  in  the  very  citadel  of  the  enemy,  and 
surrounded  by  seven  or  eight  millions  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  331 

country  they  had  invaded,  and  who  would  gladly  seize  the  first 
opportunity  to  massacre  every  one  of  them,  it  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive how  any  one  can  reasonably  dissent  from  the  position  assu- 
med by  Gen.  Cass,  or  consider  him  too  urgent  in  asking  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Senate  to  a  subject  involving  such  momentous  conse- 
quences. Yet,  the  proposition  met  with  powerful  opposition  from 
distinguished  Senators,  and  the  debate  upon  it  was  prolonged 
through  a  period  of  three  months.  The  final  vote  was  taken  on 
the  17th  of  March,  1848,  and  the  bill  passed  the  Senate,  the  vote 
being  twenty-nine  in  favor  of  its  passage  and  nineteen  against  it- 
The  origin  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  has  been  the  subject  of  much 
difference  of  opinion  ;  and  as  an  authentic  and  reliable  statement 
of  its  origin  and  commencement,  the  following  extract  from  the 
speech  of  Gen.  Cass,  delivered  March  17th,  1848,  in  the  Senate, 
is  here  inserted  : — 

"  But  it  has  been  said,  not  in  Mexico,  but  here,  that  the  origin 
of  this  war  was  not  in  the  annexation  of  Texas,  but  because  we 
carried  her  boundary  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  took  possession  of  the 
country  between  the  Nueces  and  that  river.  Who  says  this,  Mr. 
President  ?  Not  the  government  or  people  of  Mexico,  but  citizens 
of  our  own  country,  who  find  a  cause  of  offence  for  the  enemy, 
which  they  have  failed  to  discover  for  themselves.  The  Nueces 
is  an  American,  not  a  Mexican  boundary.  The  Texas  of  Mexico 
was  Texas  to  the  Sabine,  with  no  intermediate  boundary.  In  all 
the  communications  with  the  Mexican  Government,  as  I  have  had 
occasion  to  say  before,  no  distinction  is  made  between  the  Nueces 
and  the  Rio  Grande.  And  the  occupation  by  our  forces,  of  the 
country  between  these  rivers,  was  never  presented  as  an  exclusive 
cause  of  complaint,  nor  indeed  noticed  in  any  matter  whatever.  It 
was  the  annexation  and  occupation  of  Texas,  and  not  of  any  par- 
ticular portion  of  Texas,  which  led  to  the  reclamations,  and  finally 
to  the  hostilities  of  Mexico.  It  was  a  question  of  title,  and  not  of 
boundary  ;  a  claim  of  right,  which  went  for  the  whole,  and  would 
never  be  satisfied  with  the  relinquishment  of  a  part.  When  the 
act  for  annexation  passed,  the  Mexican  minister  in  this  country 
immediately  protested  against  that  measure;  declared  it  to  be  just 
cause  of  war,  and  at  the  same  time  demanded  his  passports,  and 
left  the  country.  And  the  supreme  Government  of  Mexico,  in 
March,  1846,  informed  Mr.  Slidell,  that  it  looked  upon  "  annexa- 
tion as  a  casus  belli ;  and,  as  a  consequence  of  this  declaration, 
negotiation  was,  by  its  very  nature,  at  an  end,  and  war  was  the 
only  recourse  of  the  Mexican  Government."  And,  in  conformity 
with  these  views,  forces  were  collected  on  the  Rio  Grande,  in  or- 
der that  Mexico  might  take  the  "initiative"  in  hostilities  against 
us,  to  borrow  the  expression  of  General  Paredes  in  his  orders  to 


332  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

the  commanding  general.  And,  sir,  these  warnings  and  threaten- 
ings  were  no  vain  declarations.  Mexico  said  what  she  would  do, 
and  she  did  as  she  said.  She  declared  to  us,  that  if  we  annexed 
Texas  she  would  go  to  war.  We  annexed  Texas,  and  she  went  to 
war.  As  early  as  April,  1846,  and  before  the  movement  of  Gene- 
ral Taylor  could  have  been  known  in  Mexico,  her  President  di- 
rected the  general  upon  the  frontier  to  "attack"  our  army  by  eve- 
ry means,  which  war  permits. 

Who,  then,  sir,  has  a  right  to  say,  what  the  Mexican  Govern- 
ment has  never  said — that  they  went  to  war,  not  because  we  an- 
nexed Texas,  but  because  we  took  possession  of  the  country  west 
of  the  Nueces  ?  In  all  the  diplomatic  correspondence  between 
the  two  Governments,  there  is  no  allusion  to  that  river,  nor  is  any 
greater  claim  advanced  to  one  of  its  banks,  than  to  the  other. 
Why,  then,  when  our  country  is  summoned  to  trial  at  the  bar  of 
the  public  opinion  of  the  world,  why  should  the  American  Senate 
swell  the  catalogue  of  an  enemy's  grievances,  and  make  out  a 
better  case  for  Mexico  than  she  has  made  for  herself?  In  our 
endeavor  to  do  right  to  others,  let  us  not  do  wrong  to  ourselves. 
Let  us  distrust  our  own  judgment,  when  we  find  ourselves  inclined 
to  take  a  more  favorable  view  of  the  cause  of  Mexico,  than  she 
has  taken  for  herself.  Let  us  yield  to  justice  what  we  refuse  to 
patriotism.  There  is  no  want  of  shrewdness  in  Mexican  states- 
men. They  have  made  the  best  of  their  own  case ;  and  if  they 
have  omitted  the  passage  of  the  Nueces  in  the  catalogue  of  their 
wrongs,  we  may  be  sure  it  was  no  special  wrong  in  their  eyes;  and 
that  it  was  not  because  we  crossed  that  river,  but  because  we  en- 
tered Texas,  that  our  enemy  attacked  us,  and  thus  commenced 
the  war. 

What  judgment,  then,  are  we  to  pronounce  upon  the  measures, 
which  were  directed  to  be  taken  by  the  President,  previously  to 
the  commencement  of  the  war  by  Mexico  ?  This  question  is  in 
fact  a  double  one,  involving  two  considerations :  one,  affecting 
our  relations  with  other  countries,  and  the  other  our  own  institu- 
tions only.  The  former  touches  our  character  and  conduct  before 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  while  the  latter  relates  only  to  ourselves. 

This  war  was  commenced  by  Mexico,  that  is,  Mexico  first  at- 
tacked our  troops ;  but  I  agree,  that  if  we  pushed  an  armed  force 
within  the  Mexican  frontier  without  cause,  that  measure  throws 
on  us  the  guilt  of  this  war.  How  stands  this  matter  ? 

1.  It  seems  now  to  be  generally  agreed  on  all  hands,   that  the 
mere  -annexation  of  Texas  gave  to  Mexico   no  just  cause  of  war, 
and  it  follows,  that  if  its  boundaries  extended  to  the  Rio  Grande, 
then  we  did  only  what  we  had  a  right  to  do  in  marching  our  forces 
to  that  river,  and  are  not  responsible  for  results.     Both  of  these 
points  I  have  noticed,  and  the  last  has  been  conclusively  establish- 
ed by  the  excellent  views  taken  of  the  title  of  Texas  by  the  Sena- 
tors, to  whom  I  have  referred. 

2.  If  the  title  to  the  country  from  the  Nueces  to  the  Rio  Grande 
was  in  dispute  between  the  parties — and  I  believe  no  one  here  has 


LIFE    OE    GENERAL    CASS. 

ventured  to  deny,  that  we  had  some  well  founded  claims  to  it — and 
Mexico  was  preparing  to  take  possession  of  it,  we  had  a  right  to 
anticipate  her,  and  thus  to  assert  our  own  title. 

3.  But  taking  the  strongest  ground  against  ourselves,  that  we 
had  no  title  whatever  to  the  Rio  Grande,  still  we  had  a  right  to  go 
there,  if  we  considered  such  a  measure  necessary  to  our  defence, 
and  if  the  preparations  of  Mexico  announced  a  design  to  attack  us. 

Did  they  announce  such  a  determination  1  No  one  here,  sir, 
will  deny  that  fact.  I  shall  not  detain  the  Senate  with  the  various 
proofs,  spread  through  the  history  of  our  intercommunication  with 
Mexico,  from  the  first  suggestion  respecting  annexation,  till  her 
army  crossed  the  Rio  Grande  in  order  of  battle.  The  protest  of 
her  minister  here — the  declaration  of  her  Government — its  formal 
annunciation  to  the  European  diplomatic  agents  accredited  to  it — 
the  public  order  of  its  generals,  and  the  collection  and  movement 
of  its  forces,  left  no  doubt  of  its  designs,  and  if  they  had,  the  re- 
sult would  have  disclosed  them. 

The  movement  of  our  troops,  under  these  circumstances,  be- 
came a  defensive  measure ;  for,  as  has  been  well  remarked  by  the 
honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  [Mr.  BUTLER,]  it  is  not 
necessary  for  the  justification  of  a  nation,  that  it  should  await  an 
impending  attack.  That  power,  in  fact,  commences  the  war,  which 
makes  the  first  threatening  preparations  for  it,  and  not  the  one, 
which  merely  strikes  the  first  stroke.  If  a  government  collects  its 
forces,  marches  them  to  its  frontier,  and  makes  public  preparations 
for  passing  it,  and  thus  for  war,  at  the  same  time  openly  avowing 
its  determination  to  commence  it,  both  the  reason  of  mankind  and 
the  usage  of  nations,  authorize  the  people,  whose  peace  is  thus 
threatened,  to  anticipate  their  adversary,  and  to  repel  the  threaten- 
ed attack,  by  an  attack  of  their  own.  This  course  is  strictly  de- 
fensive, and  modern  history  abounds  with  examples  illustrative  of 
the  principle. 

So  much  for  the  question  between  us  and  Mexico,  as  to  the 
commencement  of  the  war. 

As  to  the  internal  question  relating  to  the  conduct  of  the  Presi- 
dent, it  admits  of  but  one  answer.  That  cases  may  occur,  in 
which  it  is  his  duty,  under  his  constitutional  power,  to  repel  an  ac- 
tual or  threatened  invasion  before  Congress  can  act  upon  the  sub- 
ject, no  one  can  doubt ;  and  for  myself,  I  could  never  see  any  just 
constitutional  or  legal  objections  to  'the  course  he  pursued  in  this 
whole  affair.  But  there  is  one  other  consideration,  which  is  deci- 
sive, and  that  is,  that  the  orders  for  the  movement  of  the  troops  to 
the  Rio  Grande  were  given  by  the  President  on  the  13th  of  Janua- 
ry, 1846,  and  thirteen  days  before  that,  an  act  of  Congress  had 
been  passed  recognizing  our  jurisdiction  west  of  the  Nueces.  It 
was  the  duty  of  the  Executive  to  carry  it  into  effect,  and  thus  con- 
sider the  boundary  of  Texas,  as  extended  beyond  that  river. 

As  the  "initiative"  was  taken  by  our  adversary,  we  took  the  de- 
fensive, and  the  attack  being  inevitable,  it  was  for  us  to  choose 
where  to  receive  it.  Such,  I  repeat,  is  the  law  of  nations,  and 
such  the  practice  of  nations. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

APPROPRIATIONS  for  Improvement  of  Rivers  and  Harbors — Difficulties  surround- 
ing the  question  of  the  right  of  Congress  to  make  such  appropriation  s — Gen. 
Cass'  opinions  on  that  subject — He  sustains  the  position  of  Gen.  Jack  son — 
Proceedings  in  the  Senate — Remarks  and  Vote  of  Gen.  Cass — Farther  remarks 
— Chicago  Convention — Its  object — Foresight  of  Gen.  Cass  in  anticipating  the 
results  of  that  Convention — His  letter  declining  an  invitation  to  attend  it — Un- 
just and  unfounded  inferences  drawn  from  the  letter — Gen.  Cass'  exposition  of 
his  views  on  the  Constitutional  right  of  Congress  to  make  Appropriations  for 
the  Improvement  of  Rivers  and  Harbors,  delivered  in  the  Senate,  March,  1851. 

The  subject  of  appropriating  public  money  for  the  improvement 
of  our  North-western  rivers  and  harbors  is  one  which  is  of  the 
first  importance  to  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  portion  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  Unfortunately,  owing  to  the  variety 
of  interests  which  the  extent  of  our  country  has  created,  this  ques- 
tion has  become  involved  with  other  measures  of  public  expendi- 
ture, not  necessarily  or  naturally  connected  with  it.  The  consti- 
tutional right  of  Congress  to  appropriate  the  money  of  the  United 
States,  for  the  improvement  of  our  rivers  and  harbors  on  our  lakes, 
has  been  designedly  connected  with  the  question  of  the  right  of 
that  body  to  commence  and  prosecute  a  general  system  of  inter- 
nal improvement,  so  that  those  who  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  con- 
stitutional right  exists  in  the  former  case,  while  it  does  not  in  the 
latter,  are  compelled,  by  the  peculiar  mode  of  legislation  which 
has  obtained  in  regard  to  bills  authorizing  appropriations  of  public 
money  for  river  and  harbor  improvements,  to  oppose  the  system 
entirely  as  it  is  presented  to  them.  If  the  sole  question  were  the 
expenditure  of  the  amount,  upon  localities  having  a  national  posi- 
tion in  the  trade  and  commerce  of  the  country,  it  is  apprehended 
that  there  would  be  few  who  would  oppose  it.  But  when  an  ex- 
penditure, clearly  right  and  proper,  palpably  authorized  by  the 
constitution,  and  national  in  its  use,  is  so  identified  with  and  made 
dependent  upon  one  just  as  clearly  wrong  and  unauthorized  as 
the  other  is  right,  that  the  one  cannot  be  obtained  without  the 
other,  the  friends  of  the  former  are  forced  by  constitutional  obliga- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  336 

tions  to  oppose  and  resist  the  whole.  For  years  past,  this  has  been 
the  condition  of  this  deeply  interesting  question.  In  one  or  the 
other  branch  of  Congress,  illegal,  unconstitutional  provisions,  di- 
recting the  expenditure  of  large  amounts  of  money,  have,  been  in- 
corporated with  appropriations  intrinsically  legal,  and  the  demo- 
cratic members  of  Congress  have  been  reluctantly  compelled  to 
vote  against  the  whole  proposition,  and  when  the  majority  was 
against  them,  trust  to  the  Presidential  veto,  to  correct  the  viola- 
tion of  the  constitution  and  the  lavish  and  profligate  abuse  of  pub- 
lic money  for  local  benefit. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  there  has  always  been  an  inclination 
with  persons  of  a  certain  political  stamp  to  give  an  extraordinarily 
liberal  construction  to  the  provisions  of  the  constitution,  especially 
on  this  point.  Presidents  Madison  and  Monroe  found  it  neces- 
sary to  interpose  the  veto  upon  profuse  appropriations  for  works  of 
internal  improvements,  claimed  to  be  national  in  character,  but, 
in  fact,  far  otherwise.  With  the  administration  which  succeeded 
Mr.  Monroe's,  this  doctrine  of  the  "  largest  liberty  "  in  appropri- 
ating money  for  "  internal  improvements,"  found  the  utmost  favor 
desired  by  its  ardent  friends.  It  required  not  a  little  firmness  on 
£he  part  of  Gen.  Jackson,  to  bring  the  construction  of  the  consti- 
tution back  to  its  original  purity.  But  he  succeeded  in  so  doing, 
and  the  principles  then  re-established  by  him  have  become  an  ar- 
ticle of  faith  and  party  policy  with  the  democratic  party  of  the 
Union.  The  position  from  which  Gen.  Jackson  rescued  the  coun- 
try, may  be  judged  of  from  this  one  fact :  At  the  time  he  refused 
his  sanction  to  the  act  authorizing  a  subscription  of  stock  in  Mays- 
ville  and  Lexington  Turnpike-road  Company,  there  were  propo- 
sitions pending  before  Congress  for  the  construction  of  roads,  re- 
quiring an  appropriation  in  the  aggregate  of  one  hundred  millions 
of  dollars.  The  prospect  was  appalling,  but  the  constitution  was 
under  the  care  of  one  who  respected  it  and  the  great  people"  who 
entrusted  it  to  him,  and  the  country  escaped  the  evils  which  the 
"  internal  improvement  "  party  were  preparing  for  it. 

It  has  been  charged  upon  Gen.  Cass  that  he  is  opposed  to  appro- 
priations by  Congress  for  harbor  and  river  improvements.  This 
accusation,  like  others  brought  against  him,  is  without  foundation 
in  truth.  His  career  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States ;  his  de- 


336  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

clarations  of  his  opinions  on  questions  of  public  policy;  his  speech- 
es and  votes,  which  are  well  known  to  the  country,  falsify  the  as- 
sertion. Gen.  Cass  supports  the  democratic  creed  on  this  ques- 
tion, as  established  by  early  precedent,  and  re-affirmed  by  Gen. 
Jackson  and  the  Baltimore  Conventions  of  1844  and  1848,  "  that 
the  Federal  Government  is  one  of  limited  powers,  derived  solely 
from  the  Constitution,  and  the  grants  of  power  shown  therein, 
ought  to  be  strictly  construed  by  all  the  departments  and  agents  of 
Government,  and  that  it  is  inexpedient  and  dangerous  to  exercise 
doubtful  constitutional  powers." 

"  That  the  Constitution  does  not  confer  upon  the  General  Gov- 
ernment the  power  to  commence  and  carry  on  a  GENERAL  sys- 
tem of  internal  improvements." 

He  does  not  deny  the  power  of  Congress  to  improve  the  great 
harbors  and  rivers,  and  lakes,  of  the  Union,  which  are  national  in 
their  character,  and  important  to  the  commerce  or  defence  of  the 
country.  While  he  denies  the  power  to  devise  and  prosecute  a  vast 
system  of  operations,  whose  pecuniary  extent  cannot  be  foreseen, 
or  whose  corrupting  influence  in  and  out  of  the  halls  of  legisla- 
tion, may  well  excite  apprehension,  he  has  advocated  and  voted 
for  particular  appropriations,  justified  by  the  position  and  import- 
ance of  the  location  to  be  improved. 

In  a  late  speech  delivered  by  Gen.  Cass  in  the  Senate,  on  the 
river  and  harbor  bill,  he  uses  this  emphatic  language :  "  With  re- 
spect to  harbor  improvements  upon  the  great  lakes,  in  which  my 
constituents  feel  a  deep  interest,  I  may  be  permitted,  I  trust,  to 
make  a  few  remarks.  It  is  the  exercise  of  a  power  essential  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  country,  and  necessary  to  prevent  a  prodigal 
waste  of  human  life." 

One  instance  is  here  given  to  prove  by  the  record  the  position 
and  action  of  Gen.  Cass,  in  regard  to  this  question.  It  is  one  of 
a  character,  which  cannot  be  controverted,  and  must  convince  his 
most  inveterate  opponent,  that  he  is  not  opposed  to  the  judicious 
and  constitutional  appropriation  of  money  for  river  and  harbor 
improvement.  The  following  account  of  the  proceedings  in  the 
Senate  in  July,  1846,  is  taken  from  the  Congressional  Globe,  and 
its  accuracy  will  not  be  questioned : 

"  Mr.  Dix  moved  to  take  up  the  river  and  harbor  bill. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  337 

•"  Mr.  Bagby  objected.  He  was  opposed  to  the  bill  in  principle, 
and  with  a  view  to  record  his  vote,  asked  for  the  yeas  and  nays  on 
the  question,  and  they  were  ordered. 

"  Mr.  Dix  stated  that  this  was  a  bill  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, which  had  been  referred  to  the  committee  on  commerce,  and 
made  appropriations  for  works  now  in  progress.  It  had  been  await- 
ing the  action  of  the  Senate  a  long  time,  but  had  been  deferred  in 
consequence  of  the  war  measures.  He  hoped  it  would  be  taken 
up. 

"  The  yeas  and  nays  were  taken  on  the  question,  and  stood  yeas 
thirty-seven,  nays  fourteen,  GEN.  CASS  VOTING  IN  THE  AFFIRMA- 
TIVE. 

"  The  Senate  took  up  the  bill,  and  as  in  committee  of  the  whole, 
proceeded  to  the  consideration  of  the  amendments  reported  by  the 
committee  on  commerce. 

"After  a  desultory  and  conversational  debate,  two  of  the  amend- 
ments were  adopted ;  and  the  further  consideration  of  the  bill  was 
postponed  until  to-morrow. 

"  July  21 — On  motion  of  Mr.  Dix,  the  Senate  resumed  the  con- 
sideration of  the  river  and  harbor  appropriation  bill. 

Mr.  Atchinson  moved  the  reconsideration  of  the  vote  by  which 
the  following  clause  was  stricken  out : 

"  For  the  improvement  of  Little  Fort  Harbor  on  Lake  Michi- 
gan, $12,000. 

Upon  this  motion  discussion  ensued.  * 

Mr.  Cass  advocated  the  appropriation.  He  argued  for  it  on  the 
ground  of  expediency  and  CONSTITUTIONAL  RIGHT.  He 
denied  that  they  were  legislating  for  mere  local  views.  It  was  the 
duty  of  Congress  to  legislate  with  a  regard  to  local  as  well  as 
general  interests.  He  contrasted  the  importance  of  harbors  on  the 
lakes  with  thje  rivers.  On  the  Mississippi  and  great  western  rivers, 
every  species  of  craft  could  land  at  any  point.  But  on  the  lakes, 
the  God  of  nature  had  imposed  the  most  formidable  difficulties. 
He  himself  was  once  shipwrecked  near  the  town  of  Cleveland,  and 
saved  his  life  at  imminent  hazard.  He  alluded  to  the  commerce 
of  the  lakes. — Last  year  the  number  of  vessels  of  all  kinds  naviga- 
ting the  lakes  was  four  hundred  and  ninety-five,  and  thirty  were 
building.  Thirty-six  vessels  had  been  driven  ashore — twenty  total 
wrecks,  and  four  had  foundered. 

The  vote  was  reconsidered,  yeas  32,  noes  19.  Gen.  Cass  vo- 
ting for  the  re-consideration.  The  further  consideration  of  the 
bill  was  postponed." 

"  July  23 — Mr.  Dix  moved  that  the  Senate  resume  the  consid- 
eration of  the  River  and  Harbor  appropriation  bill. 

Mr.  Atherton  offered  an  amendment :  Provided  that  no  money 
shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury  on  account  of  any  appropriation 
contained  in  this  Act,  unless  the  revenues  of  the  government  shall 
be  sufficient  to  pay  the  current  expenses  of  the  year  without  resor- 
ting to,  treasury  notes  or  loans. 

22 


338  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

On  the  amendment,  Mr.  Atherton  demanded  the  ayes  and  noes, 
which  being  called,  the  amendment  was  lost — ayes  18,  noes  33." 
Gen.  Cass  voting  in  the  negative. 

After  offering  and  discussing  various  amendments,  upon  which 
Gen.  Cass  invariably  voted  to  sustain  the  bill,  the  question  was 
taken  upon  ordering  the  bill  to  a  third  reading — which  was  done, 
ayes  34,  noes  16.  Gen.  Cass  voting  in  the  affirmative. 

The  bill  was  then  by  unanimous  consent  read,  a  third  time  and 
passed.  Gen.  Cass  voting  for  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

Here  then  it  is  established  by  indisputable  evidence,  that  Gen. 
Cass  has  advocated  in  his  speeches  and  supported  by  his  votes, 
appropriations  by  Congress  for  the  improvement  of  our  Rivers  and 
Harbors.  And  it  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  he  voted  against  Mr. 
Atherton's  amendment,  which  was  intended  to,  and  would  if  adop- 
ted, defeat  the  operation  of  the  bill. 

In  further  illustration  of  the  construction  held  by  Gen.  Cass,  as 

to  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  make  grants  for  specific 
improvements,  where  the  benefit  will  accrue  to  the  country  in  gene- 
ral, the  following  extracts  are  taken  from  his  remarks  in  the  Sen- 
ate, April  29th,  1846,  in  support  of  the  bill  to  grant  alternate  sec- 
tions of  public  land  to  the  State  of  Michigan,  to  complete  certain 
works  of  internal  improvement.  Upon  the  point  of  constitutional 
right,  he  said  : — 

"As  to  the  question  of  constitutionality  raised  by  the  Senator, 
[Mr.  NILES,  of  Connecticut,]  it  has  no  application  here.  It  will 
be  recollected  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  double 
functions  to  perform.  By  the  constitution  it  manages  the  external 
concerns  of  the  country,  and  those  internal  concerns  which  natu- 
rally arise  out  of  the  relations  which  the  States  bear  to  one  anoth- 
er. The  General  and  the  State  Governments  are  kept  distinct  and 
independent  of  each  other.  And  in  the  practical  exposition  of 
the  power  of  Congress,  it  ought  to  become  a  fundamental  princi- 
ple, that  a  strift  construction  shall  be  adopted,  so  that  no  authori- 
ty not  clearly  granted,  or  not  actually  necessary  to  carry  clearly 
expressed  powers  into  effect,  shall  be  assumed  by  it.  And  here 
lies  the  difficulty  which  has  always  been  felt  in  the  exercise  of  cer- 
tain functions  by  Congress  which  interfere  with  the  State  sover- 
eignties ;  and  which  are  not  among  the  express  powers  enumera- 
ted in  the  Constitution,  such  as  the  making  roads,  &c.  But  the 
General  Government  possesses  another  function  besides  that  of 
special  law  making.  It  is  a  great  land-owner,  holding  and  having 
held  more  than  one-half  of  the  Union,  and  expressly  empowered 
by  the  Constitution  to  dispose  of  and  make  all  needful  rules  and 
regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other  property  belonging 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  339 

to  the  United  States.  Here  is  an  unlimited  authority  enabling 
Congress  to  take  any  course  it  thinks  proper  concerning  the  pub- 
lic lands.  While  the  jurisdiction  as  well  as  the  title  is  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  this  power  is  unlimited.  After  the  establishment,  how- 
ever, of  State  Governments,  the  ordinary  jurisdiction  passes  to 
the  State  authorities,  and  the  power  of  Congress  ceases  as  a  law- 
maker, except  in  those  cases  provided  for  by  the  Constitution;  and 
in  other  cases  it  retains  only  its  power  as  a  land-owner.  It  has 
got  the  authority  to  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  for  the 
disposition  of  its  property,  and  to  dispose  of  it  just  .as  it  pleases, 
restrained  only  by  a  wholesome  discretion.  And  our  statute  books 

are  filled  with  legislation  upon  this  subject. 

***** 

Let  us  not  be  told,  as  we  have  been  told,  that  it  is  not  for  the 
Government  to  take  any  measures  to  encourage  the  progress  of 
settlement.  What  would  this  country  now  be,  if  the  Alleghany 
bounded  the  Republic?  What  would  be  its  prospects,  if  an  in- 
terdict were  laid  upon  the  further  advance  of  its  citizens  ?  How 
long  before  the  scenes  which  afflict  humanity  in  the  old  world,  and 
every  day  threaten  its  repose,  would  be  transferred  here  ?  How 
long  before  a  dense  population  would  be  seen  seeking  uncertain 
employment,  and  would  find  a  scanty  subsistence,  and  that  not 
without  the  aid  of  public  bounty,  barely  sufficient  to  prevent  star- 
vation ?  When  the  population  of  a  country  is  surrounded  by  such 
circumstances,  the  evil  becomes  a  social  and  not  a  political  one — 
incurable,  without  an  entire  reorganization  of  society.  Strong 
minds,  pressed  down  by  adverse  difficulties,  make  themselves  felt 
in  efforts  directed  against  the  Government.  The  acquisition  of 
property  is  utterly  beyond  the  reach  of  the  great  masses.  Life 
holds  out  no  hope  of  a  comfortable  support  in  its  decline.  Here 
strong  minds  and  strong  passions  may  receive  a  different  and  safe 
direction.  They  have  no  reason  to  wage  war  against  social  or  po- 
litical systems.  A  moderate  share  of  industry  will  give  to  every 
man  a  farm,  on  which  he  can  sit  down  and  surround  himself  with 
his  family.  Land-owners,  as  a  class,  are  unknown  in  this  country. 
We  are  all  stimulated  by  the  hope  of  those  rewards  which  are 
within  the  reach  of  all.  Our  extensive  domain  invites  enterprising 
young  men  to  occupy  and  improve  it.  Instead  of  being  shut  up 
in  cities,  and  employed  in  manufaetories,  and  witnessing  the  scenes 
which  such  a  state  of  things  bring  with  them  in  Europe,  and  may 
eventually  bring  with  them  here,  they  seek  new  homes  in  the 
West,  acquire  land,  and  have  thus  a  most  permanent  interest  in 
the  prosperity  of  the  country. 

Mr.  C.  said  that,  in  his  opinion,  one  of  the  first  elements  in  the 
safety  and  stability  of  our  institutions  was  this  very  power  of  emi- 
gration and  settlement.  Many  a  strong  mind,  which  might  excite 
difficulties  if  kept  down  by  adverse  circumstances  in  the  midst  of 
a  dense  population,  finds  free  scope  for  enterprise  and  exertion  in 
the  vast  domains  of  the  West.  And  for  long  generations  to  come, 


340  -LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

whilst  this  outlet  is  open,  and  these  rewards  thus  held  out,  he  belie- 
ved we  had  nothing  to  fear  for  the  permanency  of  our  institutions. 
Mr.  C.  did  not  consider  it  necessary  to  advert  to  other  considera- 
tions connected  with  the  growth  and  progress  of  our  Republic. 
These  are  sufficiently  obvious,  and  find  sufficient  response  in  eve- 
ry American  heart. 

Upon  a  more  recent  occasion,  and  just  prior  to  the  meeting  of 
the  Baltimore  Convention  of  1848,  before  which  it  was  well  un- 
derstood that  Gen.  Cass  would  be  a  candidate,  he  advocated  and 
voted  for  a  grant  to  the  State  of  Illinois,  of  the  right  of  way,  and 
a  donation  of  public  lands  for  making  a  Railroad  connecting  the 
upper  and  lower  Mississippi  with  the  chain  of  northern  lakes  at 
Chicago.  Advocating  the  bill  in  the  Senate,  he  said  : — 

"  As  I  intend  to  vote  for  this  bill.,  I  wish  to  say  a  very  few  words 
in  regard  to  it.  The  subject  has  been  often  before  the  Senate ; 
and  the  Senator  from  Connecticut,  [Mr.  NILES,]  has  as  often  re- 
iterated his  scruples,  taking  the  same  ground  that  he  has  taken  to- 
day, and  carefully  avoiding  the  grounds  upon  which  the  bill  rests. 
This  bill  does  not  touch  the  question  of  internal  improvement  at 
all.  It  asserts  no  right  on  the  part  of  this  government  to  lay  out 
a  road,  or  to  regulate  the  construction  of  a  road.  The  federal 
government  is  a  great  land-holder;  it  possesses  an  extensive  public 
domain;  and  we  have  the  power,  under  the  constitution,  to  dispose 
of  that  domain  ;  and  a  very  unlimited  power  it  is.  The  simple 
question  is,  what  disposition  we  may  make  of  the  public  lands  ? 
No  one  will  contend  for  the  doctrine  that  we  cannot  give  them 
away  to  a  State.  As  the  senator  from  Kentucky  has  said,  every 
President  has  signed  bills  asserting  the  principle  that  these  lands 
may  be  disposed  of  by  the  general  government,  without  restric- 
tion as  to  the  purpose  of  such  disposition.  We  may  bestow  them 
for  school  purposes,  or  we  may  bestow  a  portion  for  the  purpose  of 
improving  the  value  of  the  rest.  What  right  have  you  to  sit  still 
and  see  your  lands  growing  in  value,  through  the  instrumentality 
of  individuals,  without  rendering  any  aid  in  furtherance  of  that 
object  ?  It  is  the  settlement  of  the  lands  that  makes  them  valua- 
ble. It  is  the  settler  who  converts  the  howling  wilderness  into 
fruitful  fields.  It  is  the  labor  and  enterprise  of  the  settler  that  has 
given  you  in  the  west  a  magnificent  empire,  and  one  which  has 
arisen  within  so  brief  a  period  that  it  is  almost  incomprehensible. 
When  I  told  the  story  in  Europe  that  1  had  crossed  the  Ohio  when 
there  were  scarcely  twenty  thousand  people  in  that  country,  and 
that  it  now  contained  five  millions,  they  did  not  laugh  in  my  face, 
to  be  sure,  but  they  did  not  believe  what  I  said.  There  is  no  par- 
allel in  the  history  of  man — no  such  splendid  tribute  to  human  in- 
dustry and  enterprise — since  the  first  man  went  out  of  the  garden 
of  Eden.  It  is  not  twenty-five  years  ago  that  I  sat  all  night  in  a 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  341 

canoe  at  the  head  of  the  pond  at  Chicago,  there  being  no  human 
habitation  in  which  we  could  obtain  shelter  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Illinois  to  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  river  ;  and  now  it  is 
one  of  the  great  highways  of  travel  between  the  northern  lakes 
and  the  ocean.  Sir,  I  hope  the  gentleman  will  put  this  upon  its 
true  ground,  leaving  out  the  constitutional  question,  and  taking 
alone  into  consideration  what  is  your  duty  as  land-holders  in  a  new 
country — a  country,  too,  which  must  derive  its  improvement  from 
the  industry  and  enterprise  of  your  own  population,  where  every 
stroke  of  the  woodman's  axe  redounds  to  your  advantage.  The 
man  who  sits  down  with  his  family  in  the  wilderness  to  make  for 
himself  a  home,  evinces  more  moral  courage  than  the  man  who 
goes  into  battle.  No  man  who  has  not  experienced  the  difficulties 
and  dangers  he  has  to  encounter,  can  estimate  them.  I  appeal  to 
the  senator  from  Connecticut  to  look  at  it  in  this  point  of  view. 
He  is  from  an  old  country,  where  such  improvements  have  been 
ready  made  to  his  hands  by  his  great-great-grand-father.  Roads 
have  been  made  and  bridges  built  for  his  accommodation ;  but  he 
must  recollect  that  his  cotemporaries,  his  friends  around  him,  his 
children,  perhaps,  are  going  into  this  new  country,  and  enduring 
privations  to  make  that  valuable  which  was  not  so  before." 

Much  of  the  misrepresentation  of  Gen.  Cass'  views  on  this  ques- 
tion, is  the  result  of  studied  and  designed  purpose  on  the  part  of 
his  political  opponents.  There  are  persons  so  entirely  inimical  to 
any  measure  which  receives  the  sanction  of  the  democratic  party,, 
that  they  oppose  what  their  better  judgment  convinces  them  to  be- 
right.  From  a  feeling  of  this  kind,  an  attempt  was  made  in  1847 
to  commit  the  people  of  the  West,  living  on  the  borders  of  the  riv- 
ers and  lakes,  to  a  disavowal  of  the  doctrines  of  the  democratic 
conventions,  on  the  right  of  Congress  to  prosecute  internal  im- 
provements. For  this  purpose  a  convention  of  persons  from  all 
parts  of  the  Union,  was  called  and  held  at  the  city  of  Chicago,  in 
Illinois,  in  July,  1847.  The  delegates  to  this  convention,  were 
self-appointed,  and  it  was  of  course  numerously  attended.  The 
ultimate  object  of  the  convention  was,  to  bring  into  disrepute  the 
practice  of  the  democratic  party,  by  procuring  a  vote  of  disappro- 
vaf  in  the  convention,  which  would  have  the  appearance  of  being 
sustained  by  a  portion  at  least  of  the  democratic  party.  The  dis- 
tinguished men  of  all  parties  were  invited  to  be  present,  by  a  com- 
mittee of  arrangements.  To  these  invitations,  answers  in  writing 
were  returned.  A  number  of  the  most  eminent  whig  leaders,  dis- 
cussed the  question  at  length,  in  their  replies.  Before  the  con- 


342  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

vention  met,  the  intentions  of  those  who  were  most  active  in  calling 
it,  became  manifest ;  and  numbers  of  democrats,  friendly  to  the 
ostensible  object  of  the  convention,  declined  participating,  when 
they  learned  the  real  purpose  for  which  it  was  projected.  It  is 
true  that  the  convention  did  not  assume  an  entire  party  character, 
but  that  was  owing  more  to  the  firm  resistance  of  the  democrats, 
who  were  there,  than  to  the  wishes  or  intentions  of  the  chief  mo- 
vers in  the  affair. 

With  other  distinguished  men,  Gen.  Cass  was  invited  to  attend 
the  convention.  In  addition  to  prior  engagements,  preventing  his 
acceptance,  he  declined  being  present,  because  it  was  his  opinion 
that  the  object  of  it  was  political,  and  entirely  incompatible  with 
his  views  and  practice,  and  that  its  labors  would  not  effect  any 
benefit.  He  considered  that  no  useful  plan  of  action  could  be  de- 
vised or  adopted  by  a  large  assemblage,  among  whom  great  differ- 
ences of  opinion  existed,  in  a  time  of  great  political  excitement, 
gathered  from  all  sections  of  the  Union  without  limitation  as  to 
numbers,  and  possessing  no  degree  of  responsibility  for  the  wisdom 
or  futility  of  the  plans  it  might  propose. 

Gen.  Cass,  in  a  brief  letter  to  the  gentleman  who  invited  him, 
informed  him  of  his  inability  to  attend.  This  letter,  subsequently, 
formed  the  text  for  a  vast  amount  of  political  badinage  and  wit,  as 
well  as  of  serious  argument  in  opposition  to  Gen.  Cass.  Perhaps 
no  four  lines  were  ever  written,  which  have  been  the  subject  of  so 
much  perversion.  It  was  circulated  in  every  possible  shape,  from 
one  end  of  the  Union  to  the  other,  during  the  Presidential  cam- 
paign of  1848,  as  an  evidence  of  the  hostility  of  Gen.  Cass  to  har- 
bor and  river  improvements.  The  letter  does  not  contain  one  syl- 
lable on  the  subject,  and  any  inference  of  opinion,  founded  upon 
it,  is  unfounded  and  unwarranted.  There  was  no  occasion  for  an 
expression  of  opinion,  nor  was  one  made.  A  man  lees  scrupulous 
about  obtruding  his  personal  sentiments  upon  the  public,  than 
Gen.  Cass,  might  have  seized  upon  the  opportunity  of  avowing  un- 
asked, his  private  views  ;  but  such  an  answer,  to  a  simple  invita- 
tion to  attend  a  public  meeting,  it  must  be  admitted,  would  be  in 
bad  taste.  The  letter  itself,  which  follows,  shows  to  what  extent, 
partizan  zeal,  can  misrepresent  the  plainest  and  most  intelligible 
statement : — 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  343 

DETROIT,  May  17th. 

Dear  Sir, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  attention  in 
transmitting  me  an  invitation  to  attend  the  Convention  on  internal 
improvements  which  will  meet  in  Chicago  in  July.  Circumstan- 
ces, however,  will  put  it  out  of  my  power  to  be  present  at  that 
time.  I  am,  dear  sir, 

Respectfully  yours, 

LEWIS  CASS. 

That  there  may  be  no  misconception  of  the  views  of  General 
Cass  on  this  great  question,  the  following  extracts  are  inserted  from 
his  speech,  delivered  in  the  Senate  at  the  close  of  the  session  of 
Congress,  in  iMarch,  1851,  on  the  River  and  Harbor  Bill : 

Mr.  CASS  said  : 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  : — As  there  is  not  as  much  noise  and  confusion 
here  as  I  found  elsewhere  upon  a  certain  memorable  occasion,  the 
important  circumstances  of  which  have  passed  into  history,  I  trust 
I  shall  meet  with  no  difficulty  in  the  expression  of  my  views  upon 
this  occasion.  I  do  not  propose  to  touch  the  constitutional  ques- 
tion involving  the  powers  of  the  General  Government  in  relation 
to  the  objects  of  this  bill.  I  shall  content  myself  with  quoting  an 
authority,  which  expresses  my  sentiments  upon  the  subject  better 
than  I  could  do  it  myself.  I  have  been  challenged  by  an  admin- 
istration journal  in  this  city  to  come  out  with  my  real  views — not 
by  the  National  Intelligencer,  which  is  a  paper  conducted  with 
equal  taste  and  talent,  and  whose  editors  possess  characteristics 
which  command  the  respect  and  regard  of  all  who  know  them — 
but  I  repeat,  I  have  been  challenged  to  disclose  my  real  views,  as 
though  I  had  heretofore  carefully  concealed  them  until  this  time. 
I  have  never  concealed  them,  sir,  either  by  writing  my  far-famed 
letter  to  the  Chicago  Convention,  or  by  declining  to  enter  into  the 
discussion  of  political  subjects  at  Cleveland.  As  to  the  letter,  the 
comments  upon  which  constituted  the  smallest  game,  that  was  ever 
played  by  a  great  party,  but  little  is  necessary  to  be  said.  I  was 
asked  to  attend  the  Chicago  Convention,  and  that  was  all  I  was 
asked.  I  said  I  should  not  go,  and  that  was  all  I  said  :  and  this 
direct  and  laconic  answer  has  been  made  the  foundation  of  a  thou- 
sand misrepresentations,  as  though  a  refusal  to  attend  that  meet- 
ing were  the  adverse  expression  of  my  opinion  upon  a  great  con- 
stitutional question.  Now,  sir,  I  did  notgo  for  two  reasons:  first, 
because  I  believed,  and  yet  believe,  that  many,  not  all,  indeed,  of 
those  who  were  concerned  in  this  scheme,  got  it  up  for  the  pur- 
pose of  injuring  Mr.  Polk  and  the  Democratic  party  :  and  second- 
ly, because  I  did  not  think,  that  the  assemblage  of  politicians  from 
large  districts  of  country  to  devise  plans  for  extensive  improve- 
ments of  this  nature,  where  there  is  no  true  responsibility,  and 
where  a  result  is  too  often  obtained  by'  mutual  arrangement  and 
bargain,  would  do  any  good.  And  so  it  proved,  for  w"ho  has  seen 


344  LIFE    OK    GENERAL    CA8S. 

the  first  beneficial  consequence  follow  from  that  Convention  ?     So 
much  for  my  Chicago  letter. 

********** 

Now,  sir,  if  there  are  any  public  men.  who  above  almost  all 
others,  could  neither  deny  nor  conceal  their  opinions  upon  this 
whole  subject,  I  may  claim  to  be  one  of  them.  During  the  Ad- 
ministration of  General  Jackson,  I  was  at  the  head  of  the  War  De- 
partment, between  five  and  six  years,  and  am  responsible  for  all 
the  estimates  sent  to  Congress,  and  upon  which  the  several  acts 
of  appropriation  for  river  and  harbor  improvements  were  based  ; 
and  for  the  two  sessions  of  the  Senate,  since  I  have  been  a  mem- 
ber, during  which  bills  have  passed  for  these  objects,  I  have  advo- 
cated and  voted  for  them,  and  stated  fully  and  repeatedly,  as  I  do 
now,  the  principles  of  my  action.  Who  but  the  veriest  tool  of 
party,  and  for  the  worst  purpose,  could  represent  me,  under  these 
circumstances,  as  endeavoring  to  conceal  my  views,  or  to  deceive 
the  country,  as  to  their  extent  or  limitation  ?  The  bird  of  the 
desert,  that  hides  its  head  in  the  sand,  and  strives  thus  to  elude 
observation,  would  be  the  very  emblem  of  wisdom,  when  compared 
with  the  efforts  thus  charitably  attributed  to  me. 

Now,  sir,  what  are  my  views?  And  to  this  plain  question,  I 
shall  give  an  answer  equally  plain.  They  are  to  be  found  in  the 
paper  I  hold  in  my  hand,  being  an  extract  from  the  annual  mes- 
sage of  General  Jackson  of  1834.  I  was  at  that  time  a  member 
of  his  Cabinet,  and  was  consulted  by  him  in  relation  to  this  expo- 
sition of  his  opinions,  and  I  concurred  in  them  then,  and  have  pre- 
served my  fealty  till  this  day  : 

"  There  is  another  class  of  appropriations  for  what  may  be  call- 
ed, without  impropriety,  internal  improvements,  which  have  al- 
ways been  regarded  as  standing  upon  different  grounds  from  those 
to  which  I  have  referred.  I  allude  to  such  as  have  for  their  object 
the  improvement  of  our  harbors,  the  removal  of  partial  and  tempo- 
rary obstructions  in  our  navigable  rivers,  for  the  facility  and  secu- 
rity of  our  foreign  commerce.  The  grounds  upon  which  1  distin- 
guished appropriations  of  this  character  from  others  have  been 
stated  to  Congress.  I  will  now  only  add,  that  at  the  first  session 
of  Congress  under  the  new  Constitution,  it  was  provided  by  law, 
that  all  expenses  which  should  accrue  from  and  after  the  15th  day 
of  August,  1789,  in  the  necessary  support  and  maintenance  and 
repairs  of  all  light-houses,  beacons,  buoys,  and  public  piers,  erect- 
ed, placed,  or  sunk,  before  the  passage  of  the  act,  within  any  bay, 
inlet,  harbor,  or  port  of  the  United  States,  for  rendering  the  navi- 
gation thereof  easy  and  safe,  should  be  defrayed  out  of  the  Trea- 
sury of  the  United  States  ;  and  further,  that  it  be  the  duty  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  provide  by  contracts,  with  the  appro- 
bation of  the  President,  for  rebuilding  when  necessary  and  keep- 
ing in  good  repair  the  light-houses,  beacons,  buoys,  and  public 
piers,  in  the  several  States,  and  for  furnishing  them  with  supplies. 

Appropriations  for  similar  objects  have  been  continued  from  that 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  345 

time  to  the  present  without  interruption  or  dispute.  As  a  natural 
consequence  of  the  increase  and  extension  of  our  foreign  com- 
merce, ports  of  entry  and  delivery  have  been  multiplied  and  estab- 
lished, not  only  upon  our  sea-board,  but  in  the  interior  of  our  coun- 
try, upon  our  lakes  and  navigable  rivers.  The  convenience  and 
safety  of  this  commerce  have  led  to  the  gradual  extension  of  these 
expenditures;  to  the  erection  of  light-houses,  the  placing,  planting 
and  sinking  of  buoys,  beacons,  and  piers,  and  to  the  removal  of 
partial  and  temporary  obstructions  in  our  navigable  rivers,  and  the 
harbors  upon  our  great  lakes,  as  well  as  on  the  sea-board." 

I  repeat,  sir,  this  succinct  exposition  contains  the  principles  of 
ray  opinions  and  action.  I  do  not  pretend,  nor  did  General  Jack- 
son, that  no  doubt  can  arise  in  their  practical  application.  That 
would  be  a  condition,  not  compatible  with  the  imperfection  of  hu- 
man language.  Uncertainty  enters,  more  or  less,  into  all  the  de- 
partments of  legislation,  and,  perhaps,  into  none  more  inevitably, 
than  the  great  branches  of  public  expenditure.  Constitutions  can- 
not establish  regulations,  as  rigid  as  a  mathematical  problem,  nor 
is  there  a  solid  wall  of  masonry,  to  which  the  legislator  can  go  in 
all  cases,  and  find  himself  warned,  by  coming  in  contact  with  it, 
that  he  is  at  the  boundary  of  his  authority,  and  can  proceed  no  fur- 
ther. A  liability  to  abuse  power  is  inseparable  from  the  grant  of 
it,  and  all  the  cautious  statesman  can  do  is  to  prevent  this,  as  far 
as  possible,  by  fencing  round  the  depositaries  of  authority  with 
such  checks  and  limitations  as,  without  destroying  the  object,  may 
tend  to  render  its  attainment  the  safer.  General  Jackson  endeav- 
ored to  do  this  by  adopting  as  a  rule  for  himself,  not  to  sanction 
appropriations  for  river  improvements,  above  the  highest  ports  of 
entry.  He  thus  states,  in  the  same  message,  his  views  upon  this 
branch  of  the  subject : 

"  Although  I  have  expressed  to  Congress  my  apprehension  that 
these  expenditures  have  sometimes  been  extravagant  and  dis- 
proportionate to  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  them,  I  have 
not  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  refuse  my  assent  to  bills  containing 
them,  and  have  contented  myself  to  follow,  in  this  respect,  in  the 
footsteps  of  all  my  predecessors.  Sensible,  however,  from  expe- 
rience and  observation,  of  the  great  abuse  to  which  the  unrestrict- 
ed exercise  of  authority  by  Congress  was  exposed,  I  have  prescrib- 
ed a  limitation  for  the  government  of  my  own  conduct,  by  which 
expenditures  of  this  character  are  confined  to  places  below  the  ports 
of  entry  or  delivery  established  by  law.  I  am  very  sensible,  that 
this  restriction  is  not  as  satisfactory  as  could  be  desired,  and  that 
much  embarrassment  may  be  caused  by  the  Executive  Department 
in  its  execution,  by  appropiations  for  remote  and  not  well  under- 
stood objects.  But  as  neither  my  own  reflections  nor  the  lights  I 
may  properly  derive  from  other  sources,  have  supplied  me  with  a 
better,  I  shall  continue  to  apply  my  best  exertions  to  a  faithful  ap- 
plication of  the  rules,  upon  which  it  is  founded." 

It  will  be  seenthat  the  limitation  he  lays  down  is  not  a  constitu- 


346  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

tional  one,  but  was  adopted  for   his  own  personal  guidance,  to 
guard  the  more  certainly  the  public  interest. 

Another  eminent  statesman,  lately  in  the  midst  of  us,  but  whose 
brilliant  career  has  recently  terminated  in  death,  equally  to  the  re- 
gret of  his  friends,  who  admired  him,  and  of  his  country,  whom  he 
served,  with  as  pure  a  devotion  as  ever  inspired  a  human  breast, 
and  whose  mighty  intellect  and  spotless  integrity  none  questioned 
or  doubted,  he,  also,  gave  us  his  views  upon  this  general  subject, 
and  very  elaborately,  in  his  celebrated  report  on  the  memorial  of 
the  Memphis  Convention.  He  concedes  fully  the  right  of  harbor 
and  river  improvements,  as  that  document  shows,  and  a  short  ex- 
tract from  it  will  put  us  in  possession  of  his  general  sentiments. 

"  Having  now  shown  that  the  power  to  raise  money  and  to  ap- 
propriate and  expend  it  is  confined  to  carrying  into  execution  the 
delegated  powers,  it  remains  to  be  considered  whether  there  is  any 
power  delegated  to  the  Federal  Government,  the  carrying  of  which 
into  execution  would  authorize  appropriations  and  expenditures 
for  the  improvement  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  and  its 
waters  ?" 

"  But  there  is  not  the  least  probability,"  continues  Mr.  Calhoun, 
"  that  Congress  will  ever  abandon  the  exercise  of  this  power,  (the 
power  to  improve  rivers  and  harbors.)  It  has  not  only  the  right, 
as  has  been  shown,  but  it  is  its  duty  to  exercise  it ;  a  duty,  under 
the  Constitution,  to  the  States  immediately  interested,  and  which 
are,  by  one  of  its  provisions,  prohibited  from  adopting  the  only 
means  by  which  they  could  themselves  regulate  their  commerce 
with  each  other." 

Mr.  Calhoun  also  sought  a  practical  limitation  to  this  power  to 
improve  rivers,  for  with  respect  to  harbors,  he  left  it  wholly  to  le- 
gislative discretion  ;  but  he  sought  it,  not  in  self-imposed  restric- 
tions, but  in  the  Constitution  itself,  independent  of  the  power  to 
regulate  commerce,  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  only  true  founda- 
tion, as  it  is  also  the  only  actual  limitation  of  this  power.  I  shall 
not  enter  into  an  examination  of  this  State  paper,  marked  with  the 
powerful  characteristics  of  the  author ;  nor  could  I  do  so,  without 
injustice,  for  it  is  some  years  since  I  examined  it  with  care.  I 
will  only  remark,  that  it  denied  the  power  to  Congress  to  improve 
rivers,  running  through  one  State,  or  running  through  or  bounded 
by  two  States,  on  the  ground,  that  in  the  former  case  the  State  it- 
self is  competent  to  improve  them,  without  any  other  action  than 
its  own  ;  and  in  the  latter  case,  that  two  States  interested  may, 
with  the  sanction  of  Congress,  enter  into  a  convention  for  their  im- 
provement. But  that  a  river  penetrating  more  than  two  States 
cannot  be  improved  by  joint  action,  as  there  are  no  means  to  obtain 
it  under  the  Constitution,  and  must  be  improved  by  the  General 
Government.  It  is  obvious,  that  this  rule  has  no  relation  to  the 
size  or  importance  of  the  river,  but  to  political  considerations,  whol- 
ly independent  of  its  magnitude  or  value. 

It  places  in  the  same  category  the  Connecticut  and  the  Mississip- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  347 

pi,  while  it  excludes  other  rivers  vastly  exceeding  the  former  in 
every  utilitarian  point  of  view,  some  of  which  are  among  the  great- 
est of  our  commercial  arteries.  Without  pursuing  this  view,  how- 
ever, I  will  content  myself  with  remarking,  that  the  error  of  this 
construction  seems  to  me  to  be  this,  that  it  assumes,  that  the  im- 
provement of  rivers  must  take  place,  and  that  where  it  cannot  be 
effected  by  the  States  themselves,  it  may  and  must  be  done  by  the 
United  States.  It  strikes  me,  that  such  a  view  is  irreconcilable 
with  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  Government.  It  would 
make  the  General  Government  a  kind  of  residuary  legatee,  having 
a  reversionary  right  to  all  power,  not  otherwise  disposed  of.  The 
reverse,  I  take  it,  is  the  true  and  settled  doctrine — that  to  the  States 
and  the  people  belong  all  the  powers,  not  granted  by  the  Consti- 
tution. If  a  power  is  not  found  there,  however  necessary  it  may 
be,  it  cannot  be  assumed  by  Congress.  Were  there  no  authority 
to  declare  war,  maintain  an  army,  or  to  equip  a  navy,  these  acts 
could  not  be  done,  whatever  pressing  emergency  might  arise,  till 
the  necessary  authority  were  granted.  I  repeat,  that  it  is  some 
time  since  I  looked  over  this  document  with  care,  and  I  can  there- 
fore only  state  the  general  impression,  it  left  upon  my  mind. 

Now,  sir,  the  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  But- 
ler] has  referred,  rather  triumphantly,  I  thought,  to  the  resolutions 
of  the  Baltimere  convention,  and  seems  to  suppose,  that  their  faith- 
ful observance  would  prevent  those  of  us,  who  acknowledge  their 
obligations,  from  voting  for  any  river  and  harbor  bill.  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, for  one,  I  see  neither  difficulty  in  the  case,  not  inconsisten- 
cy in  the  course.  This  resolution,  disavowing  the  right  to  estab- 
lish a  general  system  of  internal  improvements — for  that  is  the  doc- 
trine reproved — was  first  presented  to  the  Democratic  party  by  that 
able  and  incorruptible  statesman,  Silas  Wright,  whose  memory  is 
embalmed  in  the  heart  of  every  true  democrat.  Well,  sir,  he,  its 
acknowledged  father,  held  at  the  time  he  urged  it,  and  continued 
to  hold  till  his  lamented  death,  the  same  opinions  upon  this  sub- 
ject, which  are  now  sanctioned  by  the  Democratic  party,  and  which 
authorize  these  appropriations  for  certain  national  objects.  Can 
a  doubt  rest  upon  the  mind  of  any  man,  fairly  disposed,  respecting 
the  construction  he  put  upon  his  own  declaration?  What  he  meant, 
and  what  the  democratic  party  mean  to  repudiate,  is  the  power  to 
spread  a  great  system  of  public  works  through  the  whole  country, 
embracing  roads,  canals,  rivers  and  harbors,  and  ponds,  too,  for 
aught  I  know — a  system  by  which  the  Union  was  to  be  covered 
with  roads  and  canals,  as  by  a  net-work,  and  whose  consequences 
as  well  financially,  in  the  enormous  expenditure  it  would  entail,  as 
morally  and  politically,  by  the  corruptions  it  would  lead  to,  no  man 

can  seriously  contemplate  without  alarm. 

******* 

With  respect  to  harbor  improvements  upon  the  great  lakes,  in 
which  my  constituents  feel  a  deep  interest,  I  may  be  permitted,  1 
trust,  to  make  a  few  remarks.  It  is  the  exercise  of  a  power  essen- 


348  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

tial  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  and  necessary  to  prevent  a 
prodigal  waste  of  human  life.     When  I  first  removed  to  that  re- 
gion, there  was  but  one  natural  harbor  free  from  a  bar  between  the 
mouth  of  the  Detroit  river  and  Black  Rock,  the  whole  extent  of 
Lake  Erie,  and  that  was  at  Put-in-Bay  Island.     How  this  great 
defect  was  to  be  remedied  was  a  subject  of  anxious  inquiry  ;  for 
almost  every  day  demonstrated,  both  the  danger  and  the  difficulty 
of  the  navigation.     I  have  never  been  exposed  to  more  peril,  than 
at  Cleveland,  where  I  was  driven  ashore,  and  narrowly  escaped 
with  my  life;  the  mouth  of  the  river  being  entirely  closed.     At 
length  the  plan  of  building  piers  was  suggested  and  adopted,  by 
which  the  current  of  the  rivers,  being  confined  within  narrow  lim- 
its, they  were  thus  enabled,  when  high,  to  sweep  away  the  bars, 
and  so  to  create  and  preserve  navigable  channels.     Experience 
soon  came  in  aid  of  the  system,  and  it  is  now  found  effectual  for 
its  objects      It  must  be  recollected,  that  storms  arise  violently  and 
suddenly  upon  those  great  fresh-water  seas ;  and  as  there  is  not 
sea  room,  as  sailors  say,  to  work  a  vessel  off,  she  must  often  perish 
with  cargo  and  crew,  unless  there  is  a  harbor  uear,  in  which  she 
can  take  refuge.     And  these  circumstances  render  a  greater  num- 
ber of  ports  necessary,  than  would  otherwise  be  required.     But  as 
it  is,  and  with  all  the  improvements,  which  have  taken  place,  the 
statistics  of  the  lake  commerce  for  1850  exhibit  a  most  lamentable 
loss  of  life  and  property,  as  the  following  abstract  will  show  : 
Loss  of  life       ......  395 

Loss  of  property     -----         $558,000 

Number  of  vessels  lost  -----  32 

The  value  of  the  property  and  number  of  persons  running  this 
risk  are  stated  as  follows  : 

Value  of  the  commerce  -  -  -  -        $191,000,000 

Passengers  -  -  -  -  -          355,00(1 

American  tonnage        -----    167,000 

Here,  sir,  is  an  exhibit  of  danger  great  enough  to  awaken  the 
solicitude  and  command  the  active  attention  of  the  most  careless 
legislature.  I  can  never  surrender  a  principle,  which  enables  the 
government  to  discharge  a  sacred  duty,  dear  to  all  my  constituents; 
and  I  should  faithlessly  discharge  my  obligations  to  them,  (and 
those  obligations  are  many  and  great,)  if  I  did  not  use  all  my  ef- 
forts to  have  this  trust  fulfilled  by  the  general  government,  so  far 
as  I  can  consistently  with  the  constitution  and  the  true  principles, 
of  sound  legislation.  * 


CHAPTER  XV 

Gen.  Cass'  sympathy  for  the  patriots  of  the  old  world — His  readiness  to  welcome 
them  to  the  United  States — His  participation  with  the  Citizens  of  Washington, 
in  expressing  their  congratulations  at  the  success  of  the  people  of  France  in  the 
late  Revolution — Extract  from  his  remarks  on  that  occasion — His  vote  in  the 
Senate  on  the  resolution  of  congratulation — His  resolution  to  suspend  diplom- 
atic intercourse  with  Austria — His  remarks  on  the  Bill  offering  aid  to  Ireland — 
His  vote  on  the  Bill— ;He  supports  the  Bill  authorizing  the  temporary  occupa- 
tion of  Yucatan. 

The  oppressed  inhabitants  of  the  tyrannous  governments  of  the 
old  world  have  ever  received  from  Gen.  Cass  his  warmest  sympa- 
thies and  friendly  exertions  in  their  behalf.  Willing  to  see  the 
blessings  of  liberty,  of  free  institutions  and  of  civil  and  religious 
freedom  enjoyed  by  all  his  fellow  men,  he  has  boldly  stood  forth, 

when  others  hesitated,  and  held  out  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  the 
exile.  Tyranny,  in  any  form,  whether  it  binds  the  body  in  mana- 
cles or  closes  the  free  utterance  of  the  minds'  thoughts,  finds  in 
him  an  uncompromising  opponent.  A  witness  of  the  sufferings, 
the  wrongs  and  injustice  borne  by  the  king-ridden  countries  of  Eu- 
rope, where  the  people  are  but  mechanical  puppets,  yielding  obe- 
dience to  the  will  of  their  monarchs,  and  kept  in  submission  only 
by  the  physical  force  of  standing  armies,  he  could  well  understand 
how  grateful  to  the  fugitive  to  this  asylum  for  the  oppressed,  is  the 
word  of  welcome  and  the  hand  of  friendly  greeting ;  and  when 
occasion  offered  no  one  has  been  more  prompt  to  give  public 
manifestations  of  that  glorious  impulse  which  would  extend  the 
area  of  freedom  or  render  assistance  to  those  struggling  to  obtain 
their  rights  and  free  themselves  from  the  bondage  of  flagitious  des- 
potism. Let  the  shouts  for  freedom  be  heard  in  any  quarter  of 
the  Old  World,  and  he  stands  ready  to  send  back  its  echoes  from 
the  New — to  send  to  the  brave  patriots  of  other  lands,  the  sym- 
pathies and  encouragement  of  twenty  millions  of  American  free- 
men. 

When  the  tidings  reached  this  country  of  the  late  revolution  in 
France,  of  the  overthrow  of  the  dynasty  of  Louis  Phillippe,  after  the 


350  LIFE    OF    GENERAL   OA8S. 

struggles  of  eighteen  years  to  build  it  up,  he  met  with  the  citizens 
of  Washington  to  rejoice  in  the  success  which  hurled  from  power 
the  ambitious  and  grasping  Citizen  King,  and  restored  to  the  pos- 
session of  the  masses  their  rightful  sovereignty.  He  addressed  the 
meeting  on  that  occasion,  taking  a  brief  review  of  the  conditions 
of  the  European  governments — the  efforts  of  the  people  to  estab- 
lish- their  freedom  and  assume  their  proper  part  in  adopting  for 
their  own  governance  a  system  founded  on  equality  and  justice, 
and  in  such  form  as  would  most  surely  ensure  their  safety  and  hap- 
piness. He  traced  the  revolutions  of  the  continent  to  their  sources, 
to  the  abuses  and  oppressions  which,  for  centuries,  had  been  en- 
grafting themselves  upon  those  governments.  The  origin  of  the 
late  movements  in  favor  of  liberty,  he  traced  to  the  avowal  by  the 
present  Pope,  of  his  attachment  to  free  principles.  "  One  of  the 
strangest  events,"  said  Gen.  Cass,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks, 
"  in  this  day  of  great  events,  is  the  origin  of  these  movements  in 
favor  of  liberty  upon  the  continent  of  Europe.  Whence  came 
they  ?  From  the  Eternal  city — from  the  head  of  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion— the  successor  of  St.  Peter.  Immediately  on  his  elevation  to 
the  Pontificate,  the  Pope  avowed  his  attachment  to  free  principles, 
and  from  the  Vatican  went  out  the  decree,  which  is  now  spread- 
ing through  the  earth.  The  Pontiff,  who  holds  the  keys  of  St. 
Peter,  has  found  a  key  to  unlock  the  recesses  of  the  human  heart. 
His  moral  courage  was  but  the  more  tried  by  the  difficulties  of  his 
position.  The  abuses  of  the  government  were  the  work  of  ages, 
and  had  entered  into  all  the  habits  of  life  and  the  ramifications  of 
society ;  and  he  was  surrounded  by  despotic  governments,  jealous 
of  the  first  aspirations  of  liberty,  and  maintaining  their  sway  by 
powerful  armies.  The  Austrian,  too,  with  his  Pandours  and  his 
Croats  from  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  had  descended  the  ridges 
of  the  Alps,  and  had  spread  himself  over  the  sunny  plains  of  Italy. 
Almost  in  sight  of  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's,  he  watched,  with  in- 
terest and  with  many  a  threatening  word,  the  progress  of  the  Pope. 
But  the  work  went  on.  Naples  is  in  a  state  of  revolution ;  Tus- 
cany and  Sardinia  in  a  state  of  reform;  and  France  of  apparently 
peaceful  progress  in  the  new  career  opened  to  her." 

He  also  supported  and  voted  for  the  resolution,  tendering  the 
congratulations  of  Congress,  in  the  name  and  behalf  of  the  Ameri- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  351 

can  people,  to  the  people  of  France,  upon  the  success  of  their  ef- 
forts to  consolidate  the  principles  of  liberty  in  a  republican  form 
of  government. 

It  was  from  the  same  desire  to  spread  free  principles  and  en- 
courage the  reformers  of  Europe,  that  Gen.  Cass  supported  the 
proposition  to  send  a  Minister  to  the  Papal  States.  Circumstan- 
ces had  occurred  which  contributed  to  awaken  an  interest  in  the 
political  condition  of  the  Pope's  dominions.  England,  too,  was  dis- 
cussing the  propriety  of  having  an  acknowledged  representative 
at  the  Papal  court.  The  United  States  had  commercial  relations 
with  that  government,  and  many  of  her  citizens  were  residents 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope.  For  the  protection  of  these 
interests,  Gen.  Cass  argued  that  policy  and  wisdom  required  that 
our  government  should  have  a  representative  there  also. 

The  struggles  of  the  brave  Hungarians,  to  resist  Austrian  ag- 
gressions upon  their  constitutional  rights — the  unfortunate  result 
of  those  efforts — and  the  cruelties  and  barbarities  of  the  Austrian 
tyrants,  when  treachery  had  given  them  the  power  to  torture  and 
murder  their  victims,  had  awakened  throughout  Christendom 
the  commisseration  of  civilized  nations  for  the  one,  and  indigna- 
tion against  the  other.  To  Gen.  Cass  the  opportunity  seemed  a 
meet  one,  to  offer  by  one  strong  act  of  national  legislation,  the 
condolence  of  a  great  people  to  the  oppressed,  and  an  expression 
of  their  indignation  towards  the  oppressor.  Accordingly,  on  the 
24th  of  December,  1849,  he  introduced  in  the  Senate,  a  resolution 
instructing  the  committee  on  foreign  relations  to  inquire  into  the 
expediency  of  suspending  diplomatic  relations  with  Austria.  This 
resolution  he  advocated  in  an  eloquent  speech,  setting  forth  the 
reasons  why  he  proposed  auch  a  measure.  It  was  for  the  purpose 
of  rebuking,  by  public  opinion  expressed  through  an  established 
government,  in  the  name  of  a  great  republic,  atrocious  acts  of 
despotism,  by  which  human  liberty  and  life  had  been  sacrificed, 
under  circumstances  of  audacious  contempt  for  the  rights  of  man- 
kind and  the  sentiments  of  the  civilized  world,  without  a  parallel 
even  in  this  age  of  warfare  between  the  oppressors  and  the  op- 
pressed ;  that  the  goyernment  of  the  United  States  might  reflect  the 
true  sentiments  of  the  people,  and  express  its  sympathy  for  strug- 
gling millions,  seeking,  in  circumstances  of  peril  and  oppression, 


352  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

that  liberty  which  was  given  to  them  by  God,  but  wrested  from 
them  by  man.  The  effect  of  such  an  expression,  is  beautifully  and 
powerfully  portrayed  in  the  following  extract  from  his  speech,  in 
support  of  the  resolution.  He  said  : — 

"  Here  is  an  empire  of  freemen,  separated  by  the  broad  Atlan- 
tic from  the  contests  of  force  and  opinion,  which  seem  to  succeed 
each  other  like  the  waves  of  the  ocean  in  the  mighty  changes  going 
on  in  Europe — twenty  millions  of  people  enjoying  a  measure  of 
prosperity  which  God,  in  his  providence,  has  granted  to  no  other 
nation  of  the  earth.  With  no  interest  to  warp  their  judgment ; 
with  neither  prejudice  nor  animosity  to  excite  them;  and  with  a 
public  opinion  as  free  as  the  air  they  breathe,  they  can  survey  these 
events  as  dispassionately  as  is  compatible  with  that  natural  sympa- 
thy for  the  oppressed  which  is  implanted  in  the  human  breast. 
Think  you  not,  sir,  that  their  voice,  sent  from  these  distant  shores, 
would  cheer  the  unfortunate  onward  in  their  work — would  encour- 
age them  while  bearing  their  evils  to  bear  them  bravely  as  men 
who  hope — and  when  driven  to  resist  by  a  pressure  no  longer  to 
be  borne,  to  exert  themselves  as  men  who  peril  all  upon  the  effort? 
But  where  no  demonstration  of  interest  on  the  part  of  a  government 
is  called  for  by  circumstances,  a  sound  public  opinion  is  ready  to 
proclaim  its  sentiments,  and  no  reserve  is  imposed  upon  their  ex- 
pression. It  is  dommon  to  this  country,  and  to  every  country 
where  liberal  institutions  prevail,  and  it  is  as  powerful  and  as  pow- 
erfully exerted  in  France  and  in  England  as  in  the  United  States. 
Its  effects  may  not  be  immediately  visible.  But  they  are  sure  to 
come,  and  to  come  in  power.  Its  voice  is  louder  than  the  boom- 
ing of  cannon  ;  and  it  is  heard  on  the  very  confines  of  civiliza- 
tion. Our  declaration  of  independence  has  laid  the  foundation  of 
mightier  changes  in  the  world  than  any  event  since  the  spirit  of 
the  Crusades  precipitated  Europe  upon  Asia  with  zealous  but  mis- 
taken views  of  religious  duty." 

For  the  suffering  sons  of  Ireland,  Gen.  Cass  has  publicly  evinced, 
on  several  occasions,  his  warm  friendship  and  sympathy.  When 
famine  and  disease  were  decimating  that  unhappy  country  ;  when 
her  noble  hearted  people  had  no  bread,  no  resources,  but  to  lay 
down  and  die  from  the  Gratings  of  hunger,  he  came  to  their  aid 
with  his  eloquence  and  influence  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  353 

and  secured  the  adoption,  by  that  body,  of  a  bill  authorizing  the 
President  to  cause  to  be  purchased  such  provisions  as  he  might 
deem  suitable  and  proper,  and  to  cause  the  same  to  be  transported 
and  tendered,  in  the  name  of  the  government  of  the  United  States 
to  that  of  Great  Britain,  for  the  relief  of  the  people  of  Ireland  and 
Scotland,  suffering  from  the  great  calamity  of  scarcity  and  famine  ; 
and  also  authorizing  the  President,  at  his  discretion,  to  employ 
any  of  the  public  ships  of  the  United  States  for  the  transportation 
of  the  provisions  to  be  purchased  as  aforesaid ;  and  appropriating 
the  sum  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  carry  into  effect  the 
provisions  of  the  bill.  Although  Gen.  Gass  was  aware  that  many 
of  his  political  friends  in  the  Senate,  had  doubts  as  to  constitu- 
tional power  of  Congress  to  pass  such  a  bill,  he  gave  it  his  unquali- 
fied support.  The  following  brief  extract  will  show  how  deeply 
he  felt  for  the  sufferings  of  Ireland's  oppressed  children — her  strong 
claims  upon  the  sympathy  of  the  United  States — the  advantages 
we  have  enjoyed  by  the  immigration  of  her  industrious,  free-hearted 
sons,  who  have  added  to  our  numbers,  and  increased  the  elements 
of  our  power  and  prosperity.  Mr.  Cass  said  : — 

"As  one  member  of  this  body,  I  feel  obliged  to  the  senator  from 
Kentucky  for  the  motion  he  has  submitted,  and  for  the  appropri- 
ate remarks  with  which  he  introduced  it.  He  has  expressed  my 
sentiments  but  with  an  eloquence  peculiarly  his  own.  While  physi- 
cal want  is  unknown  in  our  own  country,  the  angel  of  death  is 
stryking  down  the  famishing  population  of  Europe,  and  especially 
the  suffering  people  of  Ireland.  The  accounts  which  reach  us 
from  that  country,  indicate  a  state  of  distress,  in  extent  and  de- 
gree, far  exceeding  any  previous  experience  in  modern  times.  It 
is  a  case  beyond  the  reach  of  private  charity.  Its  fountains  are 
drying  up  before  the  magnitude  of  the  evil.  It  is  a  national  ca- 
lamity, and  calls  for  national  contribution.  The  starving  millions 
have  no  Egypt  "where  they  can  go  and  buy  corn,  that  they  may 
live  and  not  die."  From  our  granary  of  abundance  let  us  pour 
forth  supplies.  Ireland  has  strong  claims  upon  the  sympathy  of 
the  United  States.  There  are  few  of  our  citizens  who  have  not 
Irish  blood  in  their  veins.  That  country  has  sent  out  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  emigrants  who  have  added  numbers  to  our  population, 

industry  and  enterprise  to  our  capital,  and  the  other  elements  of 
23 


354  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

power  and  prosperity  which  are  doing  that  mighty  work  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  that  is  already  exciting  the  admiration  of 
the  Old  World,  and  will  stimulate  by  its  example  the  exertion  of 
the  New.  Our  population  of  Irish  descent  have  fought  the  bat- 
tles of  the  country  with  as  much  zeal  and  bravery  as  any  class  of 
citizens ;  and  from  the  heights  of  Abraham,  where  Montgomery 
fell,  to  the  walls  of  Monterey,  their  blood  has  been  poured  out  like 
water  in  defense  of  liberty. 

"We  can  now  send  to  Ireland,  not  indeed  what  she  has  sent  us, 
her  children — those  we  cannot  part  with — but  food  for  their  rela- 
tives, our  friends  upon  whom  the  hand  of  God  is  heavily  laid.  In 
a  petition  presented  yesterday  by  the  senator  from  New- York,  was 
a  suggestion  which  I  am  gratified  to  find  embodied  in  the  bill  re- 
ported by  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  and  which  I  should  be  hap- 
py to  see  carried  into  effect :  to  employ  in  the  transportation  of 
provisions  such  of  the  armed  ships  of  the  United  States  as  are  not 
required  for  the  operations  of  the  war.  It  would  be  a  beautiful 
tribute  to  the  advancing  spirit  of  the  age.  The  messenger  of  death 
would  thus  become  a  messenger  of  life;  the  agents  of  destruction 
agents  of  preservation ;  and  our  eagle,  which  has  flown  above 
them,  and  carried  our  arms  to  the  very  coast  of  Ireland,  would 
then  become  the  signal  of  hope,  where  it  has  been  the  signal  of 
defiance.  I  shall  lend  the  "bill  my  support  with  pleasure." 

The  debate  on  the  bill  was  continued  after  Gen.  Cass  concluded 
his  remarks,  and  Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  moved  to  change  its 
character,  so  as  to  make  it  authorize  the  free  transportation  of 
food  to  Ireland  in  national  vessels,  instead  of  being  a  direct  grant 
of  money  for  the  purchase  and  transportation  of  provisions.  Gen. 
Cass  voted  against  this  amendment,  moved  by  his  political  friend  ; 
and  thus  showed  his  preference  that  the  measure  should  remain  a 
direct  grant  of  money  for  relief  purposes.  Then  came  the  final 
vote  upon  the  bill,  and  on  the  27th  February.  1847,  Gen.  Cass  vo- 
ted for  its  passage,  as  he  declared  that  he  should  do  when  it  was 
first  brought  before  the  Senate. 

Gen.  Cass  also  supported  the  bill  to  enable  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  take  temporary  military  possession  of  Yucatan. 
The  executive  and  legislative  departments  of  that  government  ha- 
ving sought  the  protection  of  the  United  States,  from  the  attacks 


LIFE   OP   GENERAL   CASS.  355 

of  the  Indian  inhabitants  of  Yucatan,  upon  them,  Gen.  Cass  was 
in  favor  of  the  proposition,  both  for  reasons  of  humanity  and  pub- 
lic policy.  Yucatan  had  also  sought  the  interposition  of  both  Eng- 
land and  Spain ;  and  the  question  of  interference  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States,  was  closely  connected  with  its  policy  in  regard 
to  permitting  any  foreign  government  to  plant  its  standard  on  this 
continent.  On  these  grounds,  Gen.  Cass  sustained  the  bill. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

Course" "of  General  Ctss  in  the  Senate  meets  with  approval  from  the  people — Con- 
vention  at  Baltimore  in  1848 — Hunkers  and  Barnburners — Votes  in  Convention 
—Gen.  Cass  nominated  for  the  Presidency — Remarks  of  Mr.  Stevenson  Presi- 
dent of  the  Convention — Gen.  Cass'  letter  of  acceptance — Baltimore  Resolu- 
tions— Gen.  Cass  resigns  his  seat  in  the  Senate — His  reception  by  the  people, 
on  his  route  home — Campaign  of  1848- -Position  of  Mr.  Van  Buren — The  Utica 
Convention — Buffalo  Convention — Bitterness  of  the  opponents  of  the  democra- 
tic party  against  Gen.  Cass — Characteristics  of  the  contest — Confidence  of  the 
democratic  party  in  their  candidates. 

The  course  of  Gen.  Cass  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
contributed  to  increase  his  fame  as  a  statesman,  and  to  add  new 
and  strong  proofs  of  his  attachment  to  his  country  and  her  insti- 
tutions. Every  act  of  his  senatorial  career — every  sentiment  ut- 
tered by  him,  carried  in  itself  evidence  of  his  nationality  as  a 
legislator.  It  seems  lo  have  been  with  him  an  ever  present  prin- 
ciple— that  mere  expediency  or  temporary  advantage  should  never 
be  permitted  to  supercede  the  claims  upon  his  judgment,  of  a  well 
founded  and  reasonable  policy.  To  meet  the  whole  question  at 
once  and  decide  upon  it,  in  view  of  all  its  bearings  and  consequen- 
ces, was  considered  by  him  better,  than  to  temporize,  and  plan  and 
intrigue  to  avert  until  some  further  day,  the  final  result.  It  was  in 
this  bold  and  decisive  manner  that  he  met  the  exciting  and  perilous 
question  which  pervaded  the  public  mind  and  absorbed  public 
attention,  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  democratic  Baltimore 
Convention  of  1848.  The  democratic  party  throughout  the  union 
may  be  said  to  have  been  at  that  time,  comparatively  unanimous  in 
the  wish  that  Gen.  Cass  should  be  their  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency, to  succeed  Mr.  Polk.  The  numerous  manifestations  of 
public  feeling,  which  by  means  of  the  public  press,  circulated 
through  the  country,  established  the  fact,  that  not  only  was  he  the 
favorite  candidate  of  the  democracy  of  a  majority  of  the  States, 
but  of  the  democratic  party  within  those  States  respectively.  Every 
section  of  the  Union,  except  those  States  having  a  distinguished 
citizen  of  their  own  aspiring  to  the  Presidency,  emphatically  cal- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  357 

led  upon  Gen.  Cass  to  be  their  candidate.  They  had  carefully 
noted  his  public  career,  and  had  not  forgotten  the  noble  trait  he 
exhibited,  when  in  1844  he  took  the  field,  in  support  of  his  suc- 
cessful competitor  before  the  contention.  His  views  on  the 
Oregon  question,  on  the  slavery  question,  on  the  tariff,  on  all  the 
leading  measures,  were  well  known  to  be  free  from  sectionalism. 
He  regarded  the  entire  country  as  interested  in  all  these  questions, 
and  in  acting  upon  them  he  was  governed  by  what,  in  his  judg- 
ment, seemed  most  beneficial  to  the  whole.  Such  a  mart  was  most 
fit  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  government,  at  a  time  when  agitation 
and  party  spirit  and  an  unhealthy  sentiment  on  some  topics,  pre- 
vailed. The  "  Wilmot  Proviso  "  had  arrayed  in  its  favor,  a  num- 
ber of  partisans,  and  among  them  a  few  distinguished  and  promi- 
nent democrats,  whose  previous  doctrines  and  practice  had  been 
diametrically  opposed  to  its  provisions.  The  excitement  on  this 
question  reached  such  a  height  in  the  State  of  New  York  that  two 
sets  of  delegates  were  selected  to  the  Baltimore  Convention,  one 
for,  and  one  opposed  to  the  Proviso.  The  acerbity  of  feeling  be- 
tween these  two  parties  was  so  powerful,  that  no  concession  could 
be  obtained  from  either,  nor  under  the  circumstances  could  either 
participate  in  the  action  of  the  Convention,  consequently  New 
York  debarred  herself  from  casting  a  vote  for  the  democratic  nom- 
inee. 

The  Baltimore  convention  assembled  on  the  twenty-second  of 
May,  1848.  Hon.  Andrew  Stevenson,  of  Virginia,  was  chosen 
President.  It  was  resolved  that  the  two-third  rule  should  govern 
in  the  choice  of  candidates  for  President  and  Vice  President.  The 
two  sets  of  Delegates  from  New  York,  claiming  seats  in  the  con- 
vention, the  subject  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  credentials. 
The  committee  adopted  a  resolution,  not  to  open  the  discussion 
between  the  conflicting  parties  for  seats  in  the  convention,  until 
each  party  should  pledge  themselves  to  abide  by  the  decision  of 
the  convention,  and  agree  to  support,  by  all  honorable  means,  the 
nomination  made  by  that  body.  To  this  resolution  the  delegates 
selected  at  the  Utica  Convention  (characterized  as  Barnburners) 
responded  that  they  would  not  pledge  themselves  as  required  by 
the  committee  on  credentials,  and  that  they  must  be  admitted  un- 
conditionally, or  not  at  all. 


358  LIFE    OF    GENERAL     CASS. 

The  delegates  chosen  by  the  Syracuse  Convention  (called  H  un- 
kers)  responded,  that  they  acknowledged  the  right  of  the  conven- 
tion to  settle  the  question  of  admissibility — that  they  wold  acqui- 
esce in  the  decision  of  the  convention,  in  determining  which  del" 
egation  should  have  seats  therein  and  that  they  would  support 
such  nominees  as  the  convention  should  present  for  the  support 
of  the  democratic  party. 

The  committe  reported  to  the  convention  their  proceedings,  with 
a  resolution  in  substance  that  the  Syracuse  delegates  were  entitled 
to  seats  in  the  convention. 

Leave  was  granted  by  the  convention  to  the  contesting  parties, 
to  advocate  their  respective  claims,  and  gentlemen  from  both  del- 
egations addressed  the  convention.  Upon  discussion  and  deliber- 
ation the  convention  adopted  a  resolution  allowing  both  sets  of 
delegates  from  New  York  to  participate  in  all  the  proceedings  and 
privileges  of  the  convention  and  to  cast  seventy-two  votes  for  the 
State,  that  being  the  number  of  delegates  from  the  State  of  New 
York  claiming  seats  in  the  convention. 

The  convention  being  organized,  proceeded  to  nominate  a  can- 
didate for  the  Presidency.  On  the  first  ballot,  Lewis  Cass,  of 
Michigan,  received  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  votes,  being  the 
votes  in  part,  of  eighteen  States.  James  Buchanan,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, received  .fifty-five  votes,  being  the  votes  in  part,  of  eight 
States.  Levi  Woodbury,  of  New  Hampshire,  received  fifty-three 
votes,  being  the  votes  in  part,  of  twelve  States.  George  M.  Dallas, 
of  Pennsylvania,  received  three  votes,  being  part'of  the  vote  of  the 
State  of  Georgia.  On  this  ballot,  the  votes  of  the  States  were  di- 
vided among  the  candidates.  The  whole  number  of  votes  cast  in 
the  convention,  was  two  hundred  and  thirty-six.  The  number 
necessary  to  a  choice,  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven,  (New- York  and 
Florida  not  voting  ;)  and  no  one  having  received  that  number, 
there  was  no  choice. 

On  the  second  ballot,  Gen.  Cass  received  one  hundred  and  thir- 
ty-three votes,  Mr.  Buchanan  fifty-four,  Mr.  Woodbury  fifty-six, 
and  Mr.  Dallas  three  ; — New- York  and  Florida  not  voting.  No 
one  receiving  two  thirds  of  the  votes  cast,  the  convention  proceeded 
to  a  third  ballot,  when  Gen.  Cass  received  one  hundred  and-fifty- 
nine  votes,  Mr.  Buchanan  forty,  Mr.  Woodbury  fifty-three,  and 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  359 

Gen.  Worth  five.  No  choice  being  made,  the  convention  procee- 
ded to  a  fourth  ballot,  when  Gen.  Cass  received  one  hundred  and  . 
seventy-nine  votes,  out  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-four,  and  was  de- 
clared duly  nominated  by  the  convention,  as  the  candidate  for 
President.  The  announcement  of  the  result  by  the  president,  was 
received  with  enthusiasm  and  long  continued  applause  ;  the  entire 
convention  uniting  in  one  spirit  stirring  shout  of  approbation. 
The  delegates  from  those  States  which  did  not  cast  their  votes  for 
General  Cass,  upon  the  last  ballot,  requested  that  their  vote  might 
be  changed,  so  that  the  nomination  might  be  unanimous.  This 
was  done ;  and  with  the  exception  of  one  delegate  from*  Alabama, 
and  the  Florida  delegation,  the  convention  was  unanimous  in  ten- 
dering a  cordial  and  hearty  support  to  the  nominee.  The  una- 
nimity with  which  Gen.  Cass  was  selected  by  the  convention  as 
the  Presidential  candidate  of  the  democracy,  is  alike  an  evidence 
of  the  extent  and  substantial  character  of  his  popularity,  and  of 
his  superior  qualifications  for  the  office. 

It  is  a  severe  but  salutary  test  to  which  the  qualifications  of  a 
candidate  are  subjected,  when  he  is  brought  under  the  ordeal  of  a 
two-third  vote.  None  but  the  truly  great  can  successfully  undergo 
the  scrutiny  of  its  application  ;  and  he  who  comes  before  the  peo* 
pie,  endorsed  by  its  approbation,  is  most  certainly  entitled  to  their 
confidence  and  support. 

From  among  the  ablest  statesmen  in  the  country,  they  selected 
him  whom  they  deemed  most  eminently  to  possess  all  the  requis- 
ites necessary  to  constitute  a  leader ;  to  whose  support  the  democ- 
racy could  rally  with  pride  and  enthusiasm. 

Gen.  William  O.  Butler,  of  Kentucky,  was,  at  a  subsequent  ses- 
sion of  the  convention,  nominated  for  the  Vice  Presidency. 

The  venerable  Andrew  Stevenson,  president  of  the  convention, 
in  taking  leave  of  it,  at  the  close  of  its  labors,  paid  the  following 
brief  but  expressive  tribute  to  the  character  and  capacity  of  Gene- 
ral Cass : — 

"  I  congratulate  you,"  said  he,  "and  the  country  upon  the  issue 
of  your  deliberations.  I  rejoice  that  you  have  done  that  which  I 
knew  you  would  do — honored  yourselves,  honored  the  party,  hon- 
ored the  country,  by  presenting  two  candidates  worthy — most  wor- 
thy— to  fill  these  high  and  distinguished  stations.  Gentlemen,  you 
have  discharged  that  duty.  With  one  of  these  nominees,  I  have 


360  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

been  intimate  from  early  life.  I  know  him  well.  I  have  observed 
him  at  home  and  abroad,  and  I  can  say,  unhesitatingly,  that  if  there 
be  one  man  of  stainless  character — if  there  be  one  man  whose 
claims  to  public  confidence  are  founded  upon  private  virtue,  that 
man  is  LEWIS  CASS. 

Gen.  Cass  was  notified  of  his  nomination  by  a  written  commu- 
nication from  the  President  and  Vice  Presidents  of  the  convention, 
to  which  he  returned  the  following  letter  of  acceptance. 

WASHINGTON,  May  30,  IS4.8 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  letter  of  the  28th  instant,  announcing  to  me  that  I  have  been 
nominated  by  the  convention  of  the  democratic  party  its  candidate 
for  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  at  the  approaching 
election. 

While  I  accept,  with  deep  gratitude,  this  distinguished  honor — 
and  distinguished  indeed  it  is — I  do  so,  with  a  fearful  apprehension 
of  the  responsibility  it  may  eventually  bring  with  it,  and  with  a 
profound  conviction  that  it  is  the  kind  confidence  of  my  fellow  citi- 
zens, far  more  than  any  merit  of  my  own,  which. has  placed  me 
thus  prominently  before  the  American  people.  And  fortunate 
shall  I  be,  if  the  confidence  should  find,  in  the  events  of  the  future, 
a  better  justification  than  is  furnished  by  those  of  the  past. 

I  have  carefully  read  the  resolutions  of  the  Democratic  National 
Convention,  laying  down  the  platform  of  our  political  faith,  and  I 
adhere  to  them  as  firmly;  as  I  approve  them  cordi;  lly  And  while 
thus  adhering  to  them,  I  shall  do  so  with  a  sacred  regard  to  "  the 
principles  and  compromises  of  the  constitution,"  and  with  an  earn- 
est desire  for  their  maintenance  '•  in  a  spirit  of  moderation  and 
brotherly  love,  so  vitally  essential  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union, 
and  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  our  common  country  ;  " — a 
feeling  which  has  made  us  what  we  are,  and  which,  in  humble  re- 
liance upon  Providence,  we  may  hope  is  but  the  beginning  of  what 
we  are  to  be.  If  called  upon  hereafter  to  render  an  account  of  my 
stewardship,  in  the  great  trust  you  desire  to  commit  to  me,  should 
I  be  able  to  show  that  I  had  truly  redeemed  the  pledges  thus  pub- 
licly given,  and  had  adhered  to  the  principles  of  the  democratic 
party  with  as  much  fidelity  and  success  as  have  generally  marked 
the  administration  of  the  eminent  men  to  whom  that  party  has 
hitherto  confided  the  chief  executive  authority  of  the  government, 
I  could  prefer  no  higher  claim  to  the  favorable  consideration  of 
the  country,  nor  to  the  impartial  commendation  of  history. 

This  letter,  gentlemen,  closes  my  profession  of  political  faith. 
•Receiving  my  first  appointment  from  that  pure  patriot  and  great 
expounder  of  American  democracy,  Mr.  Jefferson,  more  than  forty 
years  ago,  the  intervening  period  of  my  life  has  been  almost  wholly 
passed  in  the  service  of  my  country,  and  has  been  marked  by  ma- 
ny vicissitudes,  and  attended  with  many  trying  circumstances,  both 
in  peace  and  war.  If  my  conduct  in  these  situations,  and  the 


LIFE    OE    GENERAL    CASS.  361 

opinions  I  have  been  called  upon  to  express,  from  time  to  time,  in 
relation  to  the  great  party  topics  of  the  day,  do  not  furnish  a  clear 
exposition  of  my  views  respecting  them,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
sufficient  pledge  of  my  faithful  adherence  to  their  practical  applica- 
tion, whenever  and  wherever  I  may  be  required  to  act,  anything 
further  1  might  now  say,  would  be  a  mere  delusion,  unworthy  of 
myself  and  justly  offensive  to  the  great  party  in  whose  name  you 
are  now  acting. 

My  immediate  predecessor  in  the  nomination  by  the  democratic 
party,  who  has  since  established  so  many  claims  to  the  regard  and 
confidence  of  his  country,  when  announcing,  four  years  ago,  his 
acceptance  of  a  similar  honor,  announced  also  his  determination 
not  to  be  a  candidate  for  re-election.  Coinciding  with  him  in  his 
views,  so  well  expressed,  and  so  faithfully  carried  out,  I  beg  leave 
to  say,  that  no  circumstances  can  possibly  arise,  which  would  in- 
duce me  again  to  permit  my  name  to  be  brought  forward  in  con- 
nexion with  the  chief  magistracy  of  our  country.  My  inclination 
and  my  sense  of  duty  equally  dictate  this  course. 

No  party,  gentlemen,  had  ever  higher  motives  for  exertion,  than 
has  the  great  democratic  party  of  the  United  States.  With  an 
abiding  confidence  in  the  rectitude  of  our  principles,  with  an  un- 
shaken reliance  upon  the  energy  and  wisdom  of  public  opinion, 
and  with  the  success  which  has  crowned  the  administration  of  the 
government,  when  committed  to  its  keeping,  (and  it  has  been  so 
committed  during  more  than  three-fourths  of  its  existence,)  what 
has  been  done,  is  at  once  the  reward  of  past  exertion  and  the  mo- 
tive for  future,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  guarantee  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  what  we  have  to  do.  We  cannot  conceal  from  our- 
selves that  there  is  a  powerful  party  in  the  country,  differing  from 
us  in  regard  to  many  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  govern- 
ment, and  opposed  to  us  in  their  practical  application,  which  will 
strive  as  zealously  as  we  shall,  to  secure  the  ascendency  of  their 
principles  by  securing  the  election  of  their  candidate  in  the  coming 
contest.  The  party  is  composed  of  our  fellow  citizens,  as  deeply 
interested  in  the  prosperity  of  our  common  country  as  we  can  be, 
and  seeking  as  earnestly  Ss  we  are,  to  promote  and  perpetuate  it. 
We  shall  soon  present  to  the  world  the  sublime  spectacle  of  the 
election  of  a  Chief  Magistrate  by  twenty  millions  of  people,  with* 
out  a  single  serious  resistance  to  the  laws,  or  the  sacrifice  of  the 
life  of  one  human  being — and  this,  too,  in  the  absence  of  all  force 
but  the  moral  force  of  our  institutions  ;  and  if  we  should  add  to 
all  this,  an  example  of  mutual  respect  for  the  motives  of  the  con- 
tending parties,  so  that  the  contest  might  be  carried  on  with  that 
firmness  and  energy  which  accompany  deep  conviction,  and  with 
as  little  personal  asperity  as  political  divisions  permit,  we  should 
do  more  for  the  great  cause  of  human  freedom  throughout  the 
world,  than  by  any  other  tribute  we  could  render  to  its  value. 

We  have  a  government  founded  by  the  will  of  all,  responsible  to 
the  power  of  all,  and  administered  for  the  good  of  all.  The  very 


362  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.      \ 

first  article  of  the  democratic  creed  teaches  that  the  people  are 
competent  to  govern  themselves  :  it  is  indeed,  rather  an  axiom  than 
an  article  of  political  faith.  From  the  days  of  General  Hamilton 
to  our  days,  the  party  opposed  to  us,  of  whose  principles  he  was 
the  great  exponent,  if  not  the  founder — while  it  has  changed  its 
name,  has  preserved  essentially  its  identity  of  character  ;  and  the 
doubt  then  entertained  and  taught  of  the  capacity  of  man  for  self 
government,  has  excited  a  marked  influence  upon  its  action  and 
opinions.  Here  is  the  very  starting-point  of  the  difference  between 
the  two  great  parties  which  divide  our  country.  All  other  differ- 
ences are  but  subordinate  and  auxiliary  to  this,  and  may,  in  fact, 
be  resolved  into  it.  Looking  with  doubt,  upon  the  issue  of  self 
government,  one  party  is  prone  to  think  the  public  authority  should 
be  strengthened,  and  to  fear  any  change,  lest  that  change  might 
weaken  the  necessary  force  of  the  government ;  while  the  other, 
strong  in  its  convictions  of  the  intelligence  and  virtue  of  the  peo- 
ple, believes  that  original  power  is  safer  than  delegated,  and  that 
the  solution  of  .the  great  problem  of  good  government  consists  in 
governing  with  the  least  force,  and  leaving  individual  action  as 
free  from  restraint  as  is  compatible  with  the  preservation  of  the 
social  system,  thereby  securing  to  each  all  the  freedom  which  is 
not  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the  whole. 

The  resolutions  referred  to  by  Gen.  Cass  in  his  letter  and  which 
he  adopts  as  the  exponent  of  his  political  creed,  to  which  he  would 
firmly  adhere,  and  which  he  cordially  approves,  are  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  the  American  democracy  place  their  trust  in  the 
intelligence,  the  patriotism,  and  the  discriminating  justice  of  the 
American  people. 

Resolved,  That  we  regard  this  as  a  distinctive  feature  of  our 
political  creed,  which  we  are  proud  to  maintain  before  the  world 
as  the  great  moral  element  in  a  form  of  government,  springing  from 
and  upheld  by  the  popular  will — and  we  contrast  it  with  the  creed 
and  practice  of  federalism,  under  whatever  name  or  form,  which 
seeks  to  palsy  the  will  of  the  constituents,  and  which  conceives  no 
imposture  too  monstrous  for  the  popular  credulity. 

Resolved,  therefore,  That,  entertaining  these  views,  the  demo- 
cratic party  of  this  Union,  through  their  delegates  assembled  in  a 
general  convention  of  the  States,  coming  together  in  a  spirit  of 
concord,  of  devotion  to  the  doctrines,  and  faith  of  a  free  represen- 
tative government,  and  appealing  to  their  fellow  citizens  for  the 
rectitude  of  their  intentions,  renew  and  re-assert,  before  the  Amer- 
ican people,  the  declarations  of  principles  avowed  by  them,  when 
on  a  former  occasion,  in  general  convention,  they  presented  their 
candidates  for  the  popular  suffrages  : — 

1.  That  the  federal  government  is  one  of  limited  powers,  de- 
rived solely  from  the  constitution,  and  the  grants  or  power  shown 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  363 

therein  ought  to  be  strictly  construed  by  all  the  departments  and 
agents  of  the  government,  and  that  it  is  inexpedient  and  dangerous 
to  exercise  doubtful  constitutional  powers. 

2.  That  the  constitution  does  not  confer  upon  the  general  gov- 
ernment the  power  to  commence  and  carry  on  a  general  system  of 
internal  improvements. 

3.  That  the  constitution  does  not  confer  authority  upon  the  fed- 
eral government,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  assume  the  debts  of  the 
several  States,  contracted  for  local  internal  improvements,  or  oth- 
er State  purposes,  nor  would  such  assumption  be  just  and  expe- 
dient. 

4.  That  justice  and  sound  policy  forbid  the  federal  government 
to  foster  one  branch  of  industry  to  the  detriment  of  another,  or  to 
cherish  the  interests  of  one  portion  to  the  injury  of  another  por- 
tion of  our  common  country ;  that  every  citizen,  and  every  sec- 
tion of  the  country  has  a  right  to  demand  and  insist  upon  an  equal- 
ity of  rights  and  priveleges,  and  to  complete  and  ample  protection 
of  persons  and  property  from  domestic  violence  or  foreign  aggres- 
sions. 

5.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  every  branch  of  the  government  to  en- 
force and  practice  the  most  rigid  economy  in  conducting  our  pub- 
lic affairs,  and  that  no  more  revenue  ought  to  be  raised  than  is 
required  to  defray  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  government,  and 
for  the  gradual  but  certain  extinction  of  the  debt  created  by  the 
prosecution  of  a  just  and  necessary  war,  after  peaceful  relations 
shall  have  been  restored. 

6.  That  Congress  has  no  power  to  charter  a  national  bank  ;  that 
we  believe  such  an  institution  one  of  deadly  hostility  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  country,  dangerous  to  our  Republican  institutions 
and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  calculated  to  place  the  busi- 
ness of  the  country  within  the  control  of  a  concentrated  money  pow- 
er, and  above  the  laws  and  the  will  of  the  people  ;  and  that  the  re- 
sult of  democratic  legislation,  in  this  and  all  other  financial  mea- 
sures uponvwhich  issues  have  been  made  between  the  two  political 
parties  of  the  country,  have  demonstrated  to  candid  and  practical 
•men  of  all  parties,  their  soundness)  safety  and  utility  in  all   busi- 
ness pursuits. 

7.  That  Congress  has  no  power  under  the  constitution  to  inter- 
fere with  or  control  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  several  States, 
and  that  such  States  are  the  sole  and  proper  judges  of  everything 
in  their  own   affairs,  not  prohibited  by  the  constitution  ;  that  all 
efforts  of  the  abolitionists  or  others  made  to  induce  Congress  to  in- 
terfere with  questions  of  slavery,  or  to  take  incipient  steps  in  rela- 
tion thereto,  are  calculated  to  lead  to  the  most  alarming  and  dan- 
gerous consequences ;  and  that  all  such  efforts  have  an  inevitable 
tendency  to  diminish  the  happiness  of  the  people,  and  endanger 
the  stability  and  permanence  of  the  Union,  and  ought  not  to  be 
countenanced  by  any  friend  of  our  political  institutions. 

S.  That  the  separation  of  the  monies  of  the  government  from 


364  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CA^S. 

banking  institutions  is  indispensable  for  the  safety  of  the  funds  of 
the  government  and  the  rights  of  the  people. 

9.  That  the  liberal  principles  embodied  by  Jefferson  in  the  De- 
claration of  Independence,  and  sanctioned  in  the  constitution, 
which  makes  ours  the  land  of  liberty,  and  the  asylum  of  the  op- 
pressed of  every  nation,  have  ever  been  cardinal  principles  in  the 
democratic  faith ;  and  every  attempt  to  abridge  the  present  privi- 
lege of  becoming  citizens  and  the  owners  of  soil  among  us,  ought 
to  be  resisted  with  the  same  spirit  which  swept  the  alien  and  sedi- 
tion laws  from  our  statute  books. 

The  doctrines  of  these  resolutions  have  been  sanctioned  by  sev- 
eral successive  national  democratic  conventions,  and  are  the  basis 
of  the  organization  of  the  democratic  party  of  the  union.  The 
principles  inculcated  in  some  of  them  have  been,  since  their  pro- 
mulgation, incorporated  in  the  laws  of  our  country. 

Gen.  Cass  on  accepting  the  nomination  tendered  to  him,  resign- 
ed his  seat  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  as  Senator  of  the 
State  of  Michigan,  and  returned  to  his  residence  in  Detroit.  His 
route  was  one  continued  scene  of  greeting  and  welcome,  the  spon- 
taneous offering  of  a  people,  of  their  heartfelt  and  enthusiastic  ad- 
miration of  his  conduct  as  a  public  man.  Having  on  every  proper 
occasion,  declared  without  equivocation  or  reservation,  his  politi- 
cal principles,  he  determined  to  await  in  the  retirement  of  his 
home,  the  decision  of  his  fellow-citizens  of  the  Republic,  in  the 
great  contest  then  approaching. 

The  Presidental  campaign  of  1 848  will  long  be  remembered  as 
the  most  exciting  contest  that  has  taken  place  in  our  country.  The 
question  of  abolishing  slavery  had  become  by  the  artifices  and  in- 
trigues of  wily  politicians  involved  with  the  question  of  admitting 
new  territories  under  the  protection  of  our  constitution  and  laws. 
A  party  organized  itself  upon  the  basis  of  non  admission  of  any 
new  territories,  unless  the  restriction  imposed  by  the  "  Wilmot 
Proviso"  was  incorporated  in  the  act  of  admission.  No  doubt  a 
large 'number  of  those  who  advocated  the  doctrine  of  the  Proviso, 
were  honest  in  their  intentions  of  putting  a  limit  to  the  extension 
of  slavery,  and  of  confining  it  within  the  boundaries  where  it  then 
existed,  but  there  were  men,  who  stimulated  the  advocacy  of  this 
doctrine,  and  encouraged  the  organization  of  a  party  founded  upon 
it  alone,  who  were  not  sincere  in  the  position  they  assumed  direct- 
ly upon  the  principle  of  the  proviso.  The  personal  friends  of  a 


LIFE   OF    GENERAL    CASS  365 

distinguished  man,  who  had  been  elevated  by  the  democracy  to  the 
highest  office  in  their  gift,  conceived  that  latterly,  the  democratic 
party  had  not  done  justice  to  his  claims  upon  their  further  support, 
by  refusing  to  re-nominate  him  for  the  Presidency  after  his  defeat 
in  1840,  resolved  that  the  democratic  party  of  the  union,  should 
feel  the  mark  of  their  displeasure.  To  promote  their  object,  they 
seized  upon  the  Proviso,  and  having  constructed  upon  it  an  orga- 
nization separate  and  distinct  from  the  two  great  parties,  invited 
all  whom  disaffection,  disappointment,  or  selfish  ambition  actuated, 
to  join  their  standard.  A  convention  was  held  at  the  city  of  Utica 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  in  the  summer  of  1848,  at  which  Martin 
Van  Buren  was  nominated  for  President.  He  accepted  this  nom- 
ination, although  conscious  that  by  so  doing  he  would  desert  the 
standard  of  principle  he  had  supported  through  a  life  of  distin- 
guished public  service,  and  might  place  in  perilous  danger  the 
party  which  for  so  many  years  had  honored  him  with  their  confi- 
dence. Subsequently  to  this  convention,  a  general  meeting  of  this 
newly  organized  political  faction  was  held  at  Buffalo,  New  York. 
It  was  composed  of  the  disaffected  of  the  democratic  and  whig 
parties,  and  the  abolitionists.  The  result  of  the  convention, 
after  much  disagreement,  was  the  ratification  of  Mr.  Van  Buren 's 
nomination  at  Utica,  and  the  nomination  of  Charles  F.  Adams,  of 
Boston,  for  Vice-President.  The  latter  gentleman,  a  son  of 
John  Q-uincy  Adams,  and  an  hereditary  opposer  of  democracy  in 
every  form,  was  thus  placed  by  the  side  of  one  whose  pure 
democracy  never  was  questioned  until  the  disorganizing  con- 
duct of  his  personal  friends,  in  connection  with  the  selection 
of  delegates  to  the  Baltimore  Convention  of  1848,  awaken- 
ed the  suspicion  that  "  New  York's  favorite  son  "  bore  rankling 
in  his  bosom,  in  the  peaceful  quietude  of  Lindenwald,  an  inveter- 
ate resentment  against  the  democratic  party.  What  rendered  the 
course  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  more  reprehensible  than  it  otherwise 
might  have  been,  and  confirmed  the  opinion  that  private  griefs  had 
very  much  to  do  with  his  acceptance  of  the  Utica  nomination,  was 
the  incontrovertible  fact,  that  the  doctrines  in  regard  to  slavery, 
promulgated  by  the  convention  of  1848,  and  cordially  supported  by 
Gen.  Cass,  were  identical  in  every  respect  with  those  promulgated 
by  the  convention  of  1840,  which  nominated  Mr.  Van  Buren  as 


366  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CAS8. 

the  democratic  candidate  for  President.  And  more  than  this. 
The  resolutions  declaring  the  sentiments  of  the  Convention  of 
1840,  were  previous  to  its  session,  prepared  by  the  late  Hon.  Silas 
Wright  and  submitted  to  Mr.  Van  Buren  for  examination.  He 
not  only  approved  of  them,  generally,  but  suggested,  as  appears  by 
a  letter  of  the  late  Gov.  Hill  of  New  Hampshire,  that  the  resolu- 
tion relating  to  the  slavery  question,  should  be  pointed  and  unequi- 
vocal :  and  upon  his  suggestion  the  concluding  clause  of  that 
resolution  was  added  to  the  draft,  viz  : — "  That  all  efforts  of  the 
abolitionists  or  others  made  to  induce  Congress  to  interfere  with 
questions  of  slavery,  or  to  take  incipient  steps  in  relation  thereto, 
are  calculated  to  lead  to  the  most  alarming  and  dangerous  conse- 
quences ;  and  that  all  such  efforts  have  an  inevitable  tendency  to 
diminish  the  happiness  of  the  people,  and  endanger  the  stability 
and  permanency  of  the  Union,  and  ought  not  to  be  countenanced 
by  any  friend  of  our  political  institutions." 

In  Mr.  Van  Buren's  inaugural  address,  he  further  sanctioned 
the  doctrine  of  the  convention,  by  asserting  that  he  "  must  go  into 
the  Presidential  chair  the  inflexible  and  uncompromising  opponent 
of  every  attempt  on  the  part  of  Congress,  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  against  the  wishes  of  the  slaveholding  States. 
"It  now  only  remains  for  me,"  said  he,  "  to  add,  that  no  bill  con- 
flicting with  these  views,  can  ever  receive  my  constitutional  sanc- 
tion." 

The  platform  of  doctrine  upon  which  the  democratic  party  of 
1840  with  Mr.  Van  Buren  stood,  the  platform  of  1844  with  Mr. 
Polk,  and  the  platform  of  1848,  with  Gen.  Cass,  were  precisely 
identical  in  all  those  things,  which  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  his  friends 
supported  in  1840,  and  repudiated  in  1848.  If  the  doctrines  were 
sound  in  1840,  when  Mr.  Van  Buren  pledged  himself  to  their  sup- 
port under  all  circumstances,  what  other  motive  could  he  have  in 
1848  to  oppose  and  denounce  them,  than  the  sole  and  personal  one 
of  chagrin  and  disappointment,  because  the  democracy  wished  to 
transfer  a  portion  of  their  confidence  to  other  eminent  men,  and 
afford  him  the  opportunity  to  enjoy  that  retirement  and  repose, 
which  his  years  and  public  services  entitled  him  to. 

The  regular  opponent  of  Gen.  Cass  for  the  Presidency,  was 
Gen.  Zachary  Taylor,  nominated  by  a  convention  of  the  Whig 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  367 

party,  held  at  Philadelphia  in  June,  1848.  The  military  achieve- 
ments of  Gen.  Taylor  in  the  war  with  Mexico,  had  won  for  him  a 
high  place  in  the  affections  of  the  people.  He  was  brought  for- 
ward by  his  friends  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  at  an  early 
day.  He  was  not  connected  with  any  political  party,  nor  were  his 
opinions  on  any  of  the  leading  measures  generally  known.  Let- 
ters from  individuals,  in  different  parts  of  the  Union,  reached  him 
in  his  camp  on  the  battle  field,  soliciting  him  to  declare  himself  a 
candidate  for  President.  To  these  letters  Gen.  Taylor  replied, 
expressing  himself  ready  to  receive  the  votes  of  any  of  his  fellow 
citizens  who  were  disposed  to  sustain  him.  The  Democratic  party 
had  chosen  their  candidate,  and  were  therefore  not  to  be  classed 
among  the  supporters  of  Gen.  Taylor.  The  Whig  party  were 
alone  his  reliance  for  a  nomination  and  support,  yet  he  would  not, 
nor  did  he  from  the  time  his  name  was  first  mentioned  in  connec. 
tion  with  the  Presidency,  to  the  day  of  his  nomination,  commit 
himself  to  the  support  of  any  of  the  principles  by  which  that  party 
was  characterized. 

By  the  time  the  Philadelphia  convention  assembled,  the  leaders 
of  the  Whig  party,  convinced  that  the  elements  of  discord  had 
fairly  begun  to  work  among  the  Democratic  ranks,  and  having  first 
in  view,  as  paramount  to  all  else,  the  defeat  of  Gen.  Cass,  they 
determined  that  it  would  be  better  to  go  before  the  people  with  a 
candidate  who  could  not  be  charged  with  having  supported  Whig 
principles,  than  one  who  had  been  identified  with  them.  Besides, 
Gen.  Taylor  had  declared  that,  whether  nominated  or  not,  he 
would  not  withdraw  his  claims  to  the  confidence  of  his  fellow  citi- 
zens. Hence  he  was  nominated  by  the  convention,  and  placed 
before  the  people  for  their  support,  on  the  ground  of  his  military 
glory  and  success.  The  convention  neither  adopted  resolutions 
nor  an  address,  but  silently  hoisted  the  flag  of  Gen.  Taylor  and 
adjourned. 

The  convention  having  made  no  declaration  of  principle,  and 
its  candidate,  Gen.  Taylor,  being  equally  non-committal,  the  con- 
test assumed  a  new  character,  solely  one  of  opposition  to  the  de- 
mocratic nominee  and  the  party  which  sustained  him.  Thus  eve- 
ry element  of  opposition  could  unite  in  aid  of  the  one  controlling 
object.  No  principle  being  at  issue  for  them  to  contend  for,  no 


368  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

matter  how  greatly  they  might  differ  as  party  men,  they  could  fight 
shoulder  to  shoulder  on  the  platform  of  opposition  which  a  combi- 
nation of  circumstances  had  erected  for  them.  It  was  thus  amid 
unprecedented  excitement  and  partisan  spirit  that  the  contest  was 
carried  on.  No  means,  fair  or  foul,  were  left  unused,  to  defeat 
Gen.  Cass.  The  Whig  party,  really,  did  not  care  whether  Gen. 
Taylor  was  elected  or  not,  so  long  as  Gen.  Cass  was  defeated. 
That  party  would  have  hailed  the  election  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  as  a 
triumph  of  their  own.  No  event  in  the  political  world  \vould,  at 
any  time,  so  exasperate  the  politicians  of  the  Whig  party  as  the 
election  of  Gen.  Cass  to  the  Presidency.  With  such  determined 
and  unscrupulous  opponents,  it  was  a  matter  of  no  great  surprise 
that  the  Democratic  party  was  not  successful  in  184S.  A  course 
of  political  warfare,  until  then  unknown  in  party  tactics,  was 
adopted — a  disregard  of  every  honorable  principle  which  had  ever 
before  governed  the  contest  of  parties  for  power.  The  political 
opinions  of  Gen.  Cass  were  misrepresented  in  every  manner,  the 
skill  and  ingenuity  of  his  opponents  could  devise  ;  his  private 
character  was  slandered,  and  acts  of  his  life,  which  are  generally 
considered  as  conferring  honor,  and  worthy  of  respect,  were  turn- 
ed against  him,  and  distorted  into  weapons  of  injury. 

The  aggregate  vote  polled  at  the  election  of  1848,  for  Cass, 
Taylor,  and  Van  Buren,  was  2,872,000,  of  which  Gen.  Cass  re- 
ceived 1,219,962;  Gen.  Taylor  1,360,752,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren 
291,342.  Mr.  Van  Buren  undoubtedly  received  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  democratic  votes  in  the  free  States  to  turn  the  scale  in  favor 
of  Gen.  Taylor.  By  this  influence  the  States  of  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania,  in  reality  Democratic  by  a  large  majority,  were 
made  to  cast  their  electoral  vote  for  the  Whig  candidate,  giving 
him  sixty-two  votes  in  the  electoral  college.  Taking  into  conside- 
ration the  vote  cast  for  Van  Buren,  Gen.  Cass  received  a  very 
large  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  people,  over  Gen.  Taylor,  but 
the  majoiity  against  him  in  two  of  the  largest  States  of  the  Union, 
having  the  greatest  electoral  vote,  gave  the  preponderance  to  Gen. 
Taylor. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  enter  at  length  into  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  political  principles  of  any  party.  To  mention  in 
outline  the  general  features  which  marked  the  Presidential  election 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  369 

of  1848,  is  deemed  sufficient  to  convey  to  the  reader  a  correct 
idea  of  the  position  of  the  Democratic  candidate  in  that  contest. 
The  Democratic  party,  it  is  true,  were  defeated,  but  not  on  the 
ground  of  their  principles  or  of  their  candidate.  They  were  sat- 
isfied of  their  correctness — were  not  discouraged  by  the  result — 
and  maintained  without  diminution  their  confidence  in  and  attach- 
ment for  their  candidate. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Effects  of  defeat  in  1848 — Increased  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  political 
views  of  Gen.  Case — He  is  re-elected  to  the  Senate — First  session  of  the  thirty - 
first  Congress — Importance  of  the  questions  before  it — The  feeling  of  the  south 
— Course  of  ultra  politicians — Efforts  of  Compromise — Propositions  of  Messrs. 
Clay  and  Bell — Mr.  Foote's  Resolution — Gen.  Cass'  remarks — Remarks  in  re- 
ply to  Mr.  Berrien — Report  and  Bill  of  committee  of  thirteen — Amendments  to 
the  bill — Opposition  to  the  admission  of  California — Remarks  of  Gen.  Cass — 
The  "Fugitive  Slave  "  bill — Suggestions  of  Gen.  Cass  in  relation  to  it — Com- 
promise measures — Their  effects — Efforts  of  Gen.  Cass  and  other  eminent  men 
to  create  a  sound  state  of  feeling  in  regard  to  slavery — His  remarks  at  a  public 
meeting  in  the  city  of  New  York — Extract  from  his  letter  to  the  Democratic 
Union  festival,  at  Baltimore — His  action  on  the  slavery  question  approved  by 
the  people — Repeal  of  Resolutions  of  Instruction  by  the  Legislature  of  Michi- 
igan — Unanimous  re-election  of  Gen.  Cass  by  the  Legislature  of  Michigan,  in 
February,  1831. 

The  defeat  of  the  democratic  party,  in  1848,  was  the  means  of 
causing  a  salutary  change  in  the  views  of  many  prominent  and  in- 
fluential men,  who,  in  that  contest,  had  either  supported  with  in- 
difference or  openly  opposed  the  majority  of  their  political  friends. 
An  examination  of  the  real  position  of  the  democratic  candidate, 
tested  by  cool  and  dispassionate  reason,  and  confirmed  by  results, 
convinced  them,  that  the  standard  he  had  raised  was  the  right  one 
for  the  safety  and  interests  of  the  country.  Investigation  produced 
conviction,  and  conviction  confidence  in  the  purity  of  the  national 
doctrine,  upon  which  Gen.  Cass  had  staked  his  reputation  as  a 
statesman,  and  his  success  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  This 
confidence  was  exhibited  by  the  general  wish  of  the  democratic 
party  that  Gen.  Cass  should  be  re-elected  to  the  Senate  to  fill  the 
unexpired  portion  of  his  original  term  of  six  years.  The  legisla- 
ture of  Michigan,  of  1849,  obeyed  the  voice  of  their  constituents, 
and  their  political  friends  elsewhere,  and  Gen.  Cass  resumed  his 
seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

The  first  session  of  the  thirty-first  Congress,  in  1849  and  1850, 
was  peculiar  for  the  exciting  and  important  character  of  the  pro- 
positions brought  before  it.  The  south  had  for  years  complained 
of  infringement  by  the  north  upon  their  rights  as  members  of  the 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  371* 

Union — not  only  in  commercial  matters,  but  in  the  more  domestic 
and  peculiar  institutions  existing  among  them.  The  course  pur- 
sued by  ultra  politicians  of  both  north  and  south,  had  its  effect  in 
fomenting  a  state  of  feeling,  which  daily  increased  in  bitterness 
and  exasperation.  The  wise  statesmen  of  the  land  endeavored  to 
avert  the  evil  which  they  foresaw  would  inevitably  befall  the  Union, 
if  the  discord  and  dissension  between  the  north  and  the  south  were 
not  removed.  Eminent  men,  from  both  sections,  united  in  devis- 
ing measures  calculated  to  allay  the  irritation.  Several  methods 
of  compromise  were  brought  forward,  and  debated  most  ably  and 
arduously,  through  a  session  of  eight  months.  Messrs.  Clay,  Foote 
and  Bell  severally  proposed  terms  of  compromise  and  adjustment 
of  the  questions  in  controversy  between  the  free  and  slave  States, 
connected  with  the  subject  of  slavery.  The  propositions  of  Messrs. 
Clay  and  Bell,  were  embraced  in  a  series  of  resolutions  which  elic- 
ited much  discussion.  Mr.  Foote  simply  introduced  a  resolution 
to  the  effect,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  Congress,  at  that  session,  to 
establish  suitable  territorial  governments,  for  California,  Deseret, 
and  New  Mexico.  Gen.  Cass  supported  this  resolution,  and,  as 
Mr.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  had  intimated  that  he  should  move 
the  application  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso  to  the  resolution,  thus  bring- 
ing up  again  that  vexed  point  for  discussion,  Gen.  Cass  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  to  express  his  views  upon  its  constitu- 
tionality and  expediency.  Opening  his  argument  with  a  prelim- 
inary remark  upon  the  abstract  character  of  the  resolution,  and 
arguing  that  Congress  had  not  unlimited  power  of  legislation  over 
the  territories ;  and  drawing  a  distinction  between  the  right  to  in- 
stitute governments  for  territories,  and  the  right  to  legislate  over 

their  internal  concerns,  he  said  : — 

******* 

There  is  no  clause  in  the  constitution  which  gives  to  Congress 
express  power  to  pass  any  law  respecting  slavery  in  the  territories. 
The  authority  is  deduced  from  various  sources,  which  I  propose 
to  examine  by-and-by.  But  every  construction  which  would  give 
to  a  foreign  legislature  jurisdiction  over  this  subject  of  slavery — by 
foreign  I  mean  not  elected  by  the  people  to  be  affected  by  its  acts, 
nor  responsible  to  them — would  equally  give  it  jurisdiction  over 
every  other  department  of  life,  social  and  political,  in  the  territo- 
ries :  over  the  relations  of  husband  and  wife,  of  parent  and  child, 
of  guardian  and  ward,  as  well  as  over  the  relations  of  master  and 
servant ;  zmd  embracing,  within  the  sphere  of  its  operations,  the 


1 

* 

372  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

whole  circle  of  human  rights,  personal  and  political — life,  liberty, 
and  property  in  all  their  various  modes  of  enjoyment.  I  say  "  the 
power  of  Congress  over  slavery  ;"  for,  if  we  have  power  to  abolish 
it,  or  to  exclude  it,  we  have  power  to  institute  it.  We  possess 
complete  jurisdiction  over  the  subject ;  for  there  is  no  intellect, 
however  acute,  which  can  so  limit  the  legislative  right  of  action, 
if  it  exist  at  all,  as  to  apply  it  to  the  exclusion  of  slavery,  and  with- 
hold it  from  its  institution.  If  any  one  doubts  this  proposition,  let 
him  turn  to  the  Constitution  and  show  the  limitation.  Before  I 
can  believe  that  such  a  power  was  granted,  so  remote  from  the  ob- 
jects of  the  government  which  the  framers  of  the  constitution  sought 
to  establish,  belonging  exclusively  to  the  local  questions  affecting 
the  different  communities  into  which  we  are  divided,  I  must  aban- 
don many  of  the  illusions  I  have  cherished  respecting  the  wisdom 

of  the  statesmen  who  composed  the  Convention  of  1787. 

******* 

Reverting  to  the  proposition  that  Congress  has  unlimited  pow- 
er of  legislation  over  the  territories,  the  first  reflection  which  strikes 
the  inquirer,  is,  that  if  this  power  were  intended  to  be  granted,  no- 
thing was  more  easy  than  for  the  Convention  to  place  the  subject 
beyond  doubt  by  a  plain  expression  of  the  object.  Instead,  then, 
of  five  or  six  clauses  of  the  constitution,  some  with  remote  relation 
to  the  subject,  and  some  with  none  at  all,  which  are  in  succession 
relied  upon  as  the  foundation  of  this  power,  we  should  have  had  a 
clear  authority  for  the  exercise  of  one  of  the  highest  attributes  of 
government;  the  highest,  indeed,  the  right  of  unlimited  legisla- 
tion. The  clause  most  frequently  quoted  in  support  of  thig  right 
is  that  which  provides  that  •'  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose 
of,  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  ter- 
ritory or  other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States."  But  I 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  if  general  jurisdiction  over  life 
and  liberty  was  intended  to  be  granted  by  this  provision,  its  phrase- 
ology is  little  creditable  to  the  person  who  prepared  it  or  to  the  body 
which  adopted  it.  Heretofore  the  universal  judgment  of  our  coun- 
try has  pronounced  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is 
not  less  admirable  for  the  force  and  perspicuity  of  its  language  than 
for  the  principles  it  establishes  and  the  government  it  instituted. 
Proper  words  in  proper  places  have  been  till  now  the  characteris- 
tic feature  of  its  mode  of  expression.  But  if  the  power  to  make 
needful  rules  and  regulations  for  the  property  of  the  United  States 
— for  this  is  the  grant,  and  all  the  grant — conveys  full  legislative 
authority  over  this  property  and  over  all  persons  living  in  the  same 
region  of  country,  making  man  the  mere  incident  of  property,  cer- 
tainly never  were  words  more  unhappily  chosen,  nor  a  Deputation 
for  clearness  and  certainty  more  unju&tly  acquired.  That  the  con- 
vention, when  they  intended  to  grant  full  legislative  power,  knew 
what  terms  to  employ,  is  manifest  from  the  phraseology  of  the  provis- 
ion for  the  government  of  the  Federal  District,  and  of  pi  aces  ceded 
"  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock-yards,  and 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  873 

other  needful  buildings/'  Here  the  right  to  exercise  exclusive 
legislation  is  given  in  express  terms,  admitting  no  doubt,  and  the 
very  words  are  employed  which  are  best  adapted  to  convey  the 
power  intended  to  be  granted,  and  no  other  power.  When,  there- 
fore, a  construction  i  s  put  upon  the  authority  to  make  needful 
rules  and  regulations  for  property,  which  carries  it  far  beyond  the 
obvious  import  of  the  words,  those  assuming  this  ground  are  bound 
to  explain  why  similar  language  was  not  used  to  grant  similar  pow- 
ers, and  by  what  j  ust  rule  of  implication  a  phrase  so  limited  is  made 
to  convey  a  power  so  unlimited.  How  is  it  that,  in  the  same  in- 
strument, to  exercise  exclusive  legislation  and  to  regulate  property 
convey  equally  a  general  jurisdiction  over  all  the  objects  of  human 
concern  ?  No  man  has  done  this.  No  man  has  attempted  to  do 
it ;  and  it  is  an  obstacle,  in  limine,  which,  till  removed,  is  insup- 
erable. 

I  have  looked  over  the  discussions  on  this  subject  with  a  view 
to  ascertain  whence  this  power  is  derived  by  the  various  speakers 
or  writers  who  have  taken  part  in  this  controversy,  and  it  is  not  a 
little  curious  to  analyze  the  different  opinions,  and  to  find  what 
diversity  of  sentiment  prevails  respecting  the  true  ground  of  Con- 
gressional interposition.  There  seems  1o  be  a  sort  of  consentane- 
ous admission  that  the  power  exists,  but  then  comes  the  diversity 
of  views  when  seeking  to  justify  its  exercise  by  the  provisions  of 
the  Constitution. 

The  principal  reliance,  till  recently,  for  the  support  of  this  gen- 
eral power  of  legislation  has  been  upon  that  clause  of  the  Consti- 
tution already  quoted,  which  authorizes  Congress  to  "  dispose  of, 
and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting,  the  territo- 
ry or  other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States."  More  re- 
cently, however,  as  the  subject  has  been  investigated,  this  clause 
has  found  less  favor,  and  other  provisions  have  in  succession-been 

brought  forward  as  justifying  Congressional  interposition. 

******* 

Much  of  the  confusion  which  accompanies  this  subject  has  ob- 
viously arisen  from  the  use  we  now  make  of  the  word  "  territory,'' 
applying  it  to  those  political  communities  which  are  organized  un- 
der the  name  of  Territorial  Governments,  and  considering  it  as  so 
applied  in  the  Constitution.  Indeed,  so  prevalent  is  this  notion 
that,  in  an  address  of  the  Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature 
of  New  York,  dated  in  April,  1848,  this  clause  is  quoted  as  though 
it  read  territories  or  "  other  property  belonging  to  the  United 
States;"  thus  fixing  upon  the  word  its  acquired  political  significa- 
tion. And  this  example  has  been  followed  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, where  one  of  the  most  intelligent  members  says,  "  the 
Constitution  speaks  of  territories  belonging  to  the  United  States." 
This  use  came  by  time,  for  the  ordinance  of  1787  obviously  em- 
ployed the  word  territory  as  descriptive  of  a  region  of  country  be- 
longing to  the  United  States,  and  which  had  been  ceded  to  them 
by  the  members  of  the  Confederacy.  The  "  western  territory" 


374  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

was  its  popular  designation,  and  it  is  thus  called  in  an  act  of  the 
old  Congress  passed  May  20,  1785,  entitled  "  An  ordinance  for 
ascertaining  the  mode  of  disposing  of  lands  in  the  western  territo- 
ry." The  meaning  is  here  geographical,  and  not  political ;  for  no 
government  was  established  there  till  more  than  two  years  after 
this  period.  And  the  proceedings  of  the  old  Congress  abound  with 
its  use  in  that  signification,  proofs  of  which  will  be  found  in  an  act 
of  April  13,  1785,  in  another  of  May  9,  1787,  and  yet  another  of 
May  12,  of  the  same  year,  all  before  the  passage  of  the  ordinance 
for  the  government  of  the  northwestern  territory.  Then  came  that 
ordinance  providing  for  the  government  of  this  region  of  country, 
this  territory,  or  land,  or  domain,  as  it  is  indiscriminately  called 
in  the  legislative  and  other  official  acts  of  that  period.  Its  more 
appropriate  political  designation  seems  to  have  been  "district," 
for  the  ordinance  commences  by  declaring  "  that  the  said  territory, 
[or  region  of  country,]  for  the  purposes  of  government,  shall  be  one 
district,  subject,  however,  to  be  divided  into  two  districts,  as  fu- 
ture circumstances  may,  in  the  opinion  of  Congress,  make  it  expe- 
dient." And  these  districts  were  each  to  constitute  a  government, 
with  a  governor  and  judges  to  "  reside  in  the  district,"  who  are 
to  "  adopt  and  publish  laws  in  the  district,"  and  eventually,  with 
a  partially  elective  legislature,  having  authority  "  to  make  laws  in 
all  cases  for  the  good  government  of  the  district,"  &-c. 

The  territory  or  region  of  country  is  thus  organized  into  a  po- 
litical district  ;  and  had  these  local  communities,  which  we  now 
call  Territories,  preserved  this  term  district  as  descriptive  of  their 
political  organization,  or  been  known  as  Colonies,  the  English  de- 
signation for  remote  possessions,  we  should  probably  never  have 
heard  of  the  extended  construction  now  given  to  this  power  of  ma- 
king needful  rules  for  territory  or  land,  and  other  properly.  As 
in  the  Ordinance,  so  in  the  Constitution,  both  adopted  in  the  same 
year,  the  word  territory  retains  its  geographical  signification,  and 
it  was  only  by  time  and  custom  that  it  sometimes  came  to  mean 
political  communities,  distinct  from  the  geographical  region  where 
these  are  established.  But  this  use  of  the  term,  I  repeat,  was  un- 
known at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 

What,  then,  is  the  true  import  of  this  constitutional  power,  to 
make  needful  rules  and  regulations  for  the  public  property  ?  If 
this  were  a  question  of  the  first  impression,  and  a  construction 
were  now  to  be  put  upon  this  clause  unembarrassed  by  practice  or 
precedent,  it  is  so  clear  in  its  phraseology  and  objects,  that  it  is 
not  probable  there  would  be  any  diversity  of  opinion  upon  the  sub- 
ject. It  would  be  conceded  that  it  gave  to  Congress  power  to  dis- 
pose of,  use,  and  preserve  the  public  property,  wherever  situated, 
and  to  exercise  any  power  fairly  "needful"  to  attain  these  objects. 
The  slightest  analysis  establishes  this  construction.  It  is  property 
alone  which  is  the  subject  of  the  grant ;  and  its  disposition,  and 
in  connection  with  that,  its  use  and  preservation,  are  the  objects. 
The  frame  of  the  sentence  places  this  beyond  doubt.  The  phrase 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 


375 


"territory  or  other  property,"  makes  territory  one  of  the  classes  of 
property,  and  was  doubtless  here  introduced  as  far  the  most  impor- 
tant of  them,  being  the  Western  Territory,  the  great  fund  destined 
to  relieve  the  finances  of  the  infant  Confederation.  He  who  de- 
nies this,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  philological  reasoning. 

***** 

Now,  it  is  manifest  that  if  the  power  to  make  needful  rules  and 
regulations  conveys  a  general  grant  of  legislative  authority,  then 
the  express  clause  far  the  exercise  of  jurisdiction  with  the  consent 
of  the  States  was  unnecessary,  and  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  wherever  it  owns  property,  possesses  by  the  act  of  owner- 
ship complete  legislative  jurisdiction  within  its  limits. 

For  it  is  to  be  observed  that  this  power  "to  dispose  of  and  make 
needful  rules  and  regulations,"  attaches  to  the  public  property 
whether  found  in  the  States  or  Territories,  and  is  the  only  autho- 
rity by  which  the  public  lands,  wherever  situated,  are  sold.  And, 
consequently,  the-  people  living  thereon,  are  subject  to  Congress- 
ional legislation,  and  may  be  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  State  au- 
thorities. Either  this  consequence  follows,  or  the  very  same  words, 
operating  upon  the  very  same  subject,  convey  powers  altogether 
different. 

It  is  under  this  authority  that  our  whole  system  of  land  laws  has 
been  established  ;  that  land  has  been  surveyed  and  sold,  trespasses 
prevented  or  punished,  intrusions  prohibited,  and  the  proceeds  of 
the  national  domain  realized  and  carried  to  the  national  treasury. 
The  laws  for  these  purposes  are  general  in  their  operation,  not  ap- 
plicable to  the  Territories  alone,  but  embracing  in  their  action 
those  portions  of  all  the  States  where  this  kind  of  property  exists. 

And  these  laws,  passed  by  virtue  of  this  clause  relating  to  the 
public  property,  cease  to  operate  as  soon  as  the  United  States  cease 
to  own  such  property.  If  a  tract  of  land,  wherever  situated, 
whether  within  a  State  or  Territory,  is  paid  for  and  sold,  all  the 
provisions  for  the  security  of  the  United  States,  arising  out  of  this 
special  clause  of  the  Constitution  disappears  at  once,  and  the  tract 
passes  into  the  common  mass  of  property,  subject  to  all  the  usual 
incidents,  and  governed  only  by  the  usual  local  laws. 

But  it  is  yet  strenuously  contended,  though  certainly  not  with 
the  same  earnestness  of  conviction  which  marked  the  earlier  dis- 
cussions of  this  subject,  that  the  natural  and  obvious  import  of  this 
clause,  giving  Congress  power  to  make  needful  rules  and  regula- 
tions for  the  public  property,  is  not  the  true  one,  but  that  it  gives 
complete  legislative  jurisdiction  over  the  property  itself,  and  over 
all  the  persons  living  within  the  Territories  of  the  United  States. 
And  why  ?  I  have  examined  with  some  care  the  long  debates  up- 
on this  subject,  and  I  find  there  are  two  different  views  taken  of 
this  clause,  both  of  which  unite  in  the  same  conclusion,  but  sepa- 
rate in  the  process  by  which  it  is  reached.  Those  who  advocate 
the  one,  contend  that  •  the  word  "territory"  does  not  mean  land 
alone,  but  includes  also  political  jurisdiction ;  thus  making  Ameri- 


376  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

can  citizens  a  part  of  the  national  property,  which  Congress  may 
"dispose  of,"  or  otherwise  regulate  at  its  pleasure.  The  advocates 
of  the  other,  who  certainly  bring  to  this  discussion  greater  num- 
bers, as  well  as  higher  talents  and  position,  while  conceding  that 
the  word  "territory"  in  this  connection  means  land,  maintain  that 
the  right  to  make  needful  rules  and  regulations  concerning  it,  ne- 
cessarily conveys  unlimited  powers  of  legislation  over  such  proper- 
ty, as  well  as  over  the  political  communities,  called  Territories, 
where  it  is  to  be  found. 

***** 

If  the  word  "territory"  here  includes  the  right  of  jurisdiction, 
it  follows' that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion to  confer  upon  Congress  the  power  to  sell  this  jurisdiction  over 
all  the  western  cessions,  and  that  this  clause  accomplishes  the  ob- 
ject. For,  whatever  be  the  true  meaning  of  the  word  "territory," 
whether  soil  or  dominion,  or  both,  the  authority  granted  is  an  au- 
thority to  dispose  of  or  sell  it,  equally  with  "other  property."  No 
process  of  analysis  can  separate  the  right  to  sell  the  "territory" 
from  the  right  to  sell  the  "other  property."  Congress,  by  this 
construction,  could  sell  to  every  man  the  right  of  jurisdiction  over 
his  section  or  quarter  section,  as  well  as  the  right  of  soil ;  or  it 
could  sell  the  title  to  one  man,  and  the  jurisdiction  to  another,  or 
both,  or  either  to  a  foreign  State,  or  to  its  subjects.  The  bare 
enunciation  of  such  a  proposition  carries  with  it  its  own  refuta- 
tion. I  cannot  deal  with  it  as  a  subject  of  argumentation.  The 
power,  under  any  circumstances,  to  cede  a  portion  of  the  United 
States  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  a  very  doubtful  one  under  our  Con- 
stitution. For  myself,  I  can  find  no  such  grant  of  authority  in  that 
instrument.  Its  powers  are  preservative,  not  destructive.  I  am 
speaking  of  a  direct  unquestioned  cession  ;  not  of  the  fair  settle- 
ment of  a  disputed  boundary  with  a  foreign  nation,  where  the  ques- 
tion is  uncertain,  and  where  the  act  of  adjustment  establishes  the 
true  line  of  demarcation.  But  that  the  Convention  of  1787  should 
make  it  a  fundamental  provision  of  the  new  Government  that  it 
might  alienate  from  this  country,  at  its  pleasure,  and  by  the  acre, 
too,  its  vast  western  domain,  the  object  of  so  much  solicitude  and 
the  cause  of  so  many  dissensions,  almost  terminating  in  separa- 
tion, is  a  proposition  equally  at  variance  with  our  political  history 
and  with  the  spirit  of  our  political  institutions.  And  what  still 
adds  to  the  surprise  which  this  course  of  reasoning  is  so  well  cal- 
culated to  excite,  is  the  fact  that  gentlemen  who  seek  by  construc- 
tion to  give  to  Congress  this  unlimited  power  of  cession  are  among 
Ihose  who  contend  most  strenuously  for  the  obligation  and  inviola- 
bility of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  and  for  its  virtual  recognition  by 
the  Constitution  ;  notwithstanding  that  ordinance  places  the  west- 
ern territory  beyond  any  other  final  disposition  than  that  of  ad- 
mission into  the  Union,  with  all  the  rights  of  the  original  members. 

The  other  construction,  which  deduces  a  new  power  of  unlimi- 
ted jurisdiction  from  this  constitutional  authority  "to  dispose  of 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  377 

and  make  needful  rules  and  regulations  concerning  the  territory 
or  other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States,"  concedes  that 
territory  is  here  land  and  property,  but  maintains  that  the  needful 
regulation  of  it  includes  complete  jurisdiction — not  only  the  pow- 
er to  establish  territorial  governments,  but  to  legislate  for  the  ter- 
ritories in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

***** 

I  have  already  referred  to  what  the  Supreme  Court  said  in  ano- 
ther case  ;  but  I  renew  the  reference  for  a  different  purpose,  and 
extend  the  quotation  to  show  whence  this  power,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Court,  is  derived. 

"  The  term  '  territory,'  as  here  used,  is  merely  descriptive  of 
one  kind  of  property,  (says  the  Court,)  and  is  equivalent  to  the 
word  lands ;  and  Congress  has  the  same  power  over  it  as  over  any 
other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States ;  and  this  power  is 
vested  in  Congress  without  limitation,  and  has  been  considered  (a 
cautious  expression,  by-the-by)  the  foundation  upon  which  the  ter- 
ritorial governments  rested."  And  they  refer  to  a  preceding  opin- 
ion, where  the  Chief  Justice,  speaking  of  this  article,  andthepow-. 
ers  growing  out  of  it,  applies  it  to  the  territorial  governments,  and 
says,  "all  admit  their  constitutionality."  And  again :  Florida, 
while  a  territory,  was  "  governed  by  that  clause  of  the  constitution 
which  empowers  Congress  to  make  all  needful  rules  and  regula- 
tions respecting  the  territory  or  other  property  belonging  to  the 
United  States."  The  word  "territory,"  the  Court  says,  "  is  here 
synonymous  with  land."  Using  the  synonyme,  the  phrase  will  sub- 
stantially  read  thus:  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and 
make  needful  rules  and  regulations  concerning  the  land  of  the 
United  States.  And  we  are  asked  to  believe  that  this  guarded 
clause  conveys  complete  jurisdiction,  full  power  of  legislation  over 
the  land  itself,  for  all  purposes,  and  over  the  individuals  or  commu- 
nities, not  only  living  upon  it,  while  public  property,  but  living  up- 
on it  after  it  ceases  to  belong  to  the  United  States,  and  also  upon 
those  living  in  the  same  region.  We  have  seen  it  laid  down  that 
this  power  is  "plenary,"  and  that  rules  and  regulations  concerning 
land,  necessarily  confer  "complete  jurisdiction"  over  land  and 
men  also. 

We  can  well  understand  that  a  power  to  sell  the  land  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  and  to  make  needful  laws  concerning  it,  gives  the  right 
of  legislation  for  all  purposes  fairly  connected  with  the  use  and 
sale  of  that  kind  of  property,  and  necessary  to  these  objects.  The 
right  to  survey  it,  to  convey  it,  to  improve  it,  to  protect  it,  and  to 
use  the  various  means  properly  required  therefor  ;  for  these  purpo- 
ses concern  the  land,  and  the  laws  operate  upon  individuals  in  re- 
lation to  their  purchases,  and  upon  all  others  who  interfere  with 
the  rights  of  property  in  the  United  States.  But  how  does  a  mur- 
der concern  the  land  1  or  a  marriage  ?  or  a  note  of  hand?  or  any 
of  the  infinite  variety  of  acts  which  pass  between  individuals  in 
civilized  communities?  And  if  they  do  not,  whence  comes  the 

I 


378  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

Congressional  power  of  legislation,  by  which  such  acts  are  to  be 
commanded,  or  prohibited,  or  punished  ?  The  Supreme  Court 
indeed  says  that  the  power  of  Congress  is  without  limitation  ;  but 
the  Constitution  says  it  is  not.  The  Constitution  says,  in  the  first 
place,  that  it  must  be  needful  ;  and,  in  the  next  place,  that  it  must 
concern  the  land ;  and  both  of  these  injunctions  are  limitations, 
and  guarded  ones,  too,  upon  the  exercise  of  legislative  power. 
Needful,  not  for  all  purposes  ;  not  for  general  jurisdiction  ;  but  for 
the  objects  of  the  grant  of  power,  which  concern  the  land,  and 

cannot  be  separated  from  it. 

f  *  *  *  * 

The  second  argument  urged  in  support  of  the  authority  of  Con- 
gress to  legislate  over  the  Territories  is  derived  from  the  war  and 
treaty-making  power,  which  bring  with  them  as  an  incident  the 
right  of  acquisition,  and  this  is  followed  by  the  right  of  legislating 
over  the  country  acquired.  Besides  many  speakers  who  have  ad- 
vocated this  doctrine  in  debate,  and  a  majority  perhaps  have  done 
so,  there  are  eminent  authorities  who  avow  the  same  opinion,  and 
whose  views  are  entitled  to  great  consideration. 

The  effect  of  the  war-making  power  upon  the  right  of  acquisi- 
tion is,  under  our  Constitution,  an  inquiry  purely  speculative,  5s 
no  territory  has  ever  been  added  to  the  Union  by  that  process. 
Though  the  principle  is  thus  broadly  laid  down,  yet  it  is  rather 
difficult  to  conceive  how  the  mere  act  of  war,  though  it  bring  con- 
quest with  it,  can  permanently  annex  a  foreign  country  to  the  Uni- 
ted States  without  the  interposition  of  some  department  of  the  Gov- 
ernment constitutionally  competent  to  indicate  the  national  will  on 
the  subject ;  and  if  this  be  so,  the  war-making  power  cannot  be  said 
to  make  the  acquisition,  or,  in  other  words,  the  annexation,  though 
it  may  afford  the  opportunity  of  its  being  made.  The  act  of  con- 
quest and  the  act  of  annexation  are,  in  such  a  state  of  things,  as 
different  in  their  character  as  in  their  operation.  A  treaty  of  peace 
confirming  the  conquest,  and  making  the  cession,  carries  the  ques- 
tion to  the  treaty-making  power.  What  course  will  be  pursued 
to  declare  or  to  secure  annexation,  in  the  very  improbable  event 
of  the  conquest  of  a  foreign  country  by  the  United  States,  with  the 
determination  of  the  Government  utterly  to  subdue  it,  and  to  des- 
troy its  political  organization,  so  that  no  authority  could  exist  to 
give  its  assent  to  the  terms  proposed  by  the  conqueror,  is  a  case 
so  little  likely  to  happen  as  scarcely  to  deserve  a  place,  even  as  a 

subject  of  speculation,  in  an  elementary  treatise. 

********** 

Another  assumed  ground  for  the  exercise  of  this  power  is  the 
right  to  admit  new  States. 

"The  purpose,"  [of  the  right  of  government,]  says  a  member 
of  this  body,  "  is  to  train  up  a  nation  of  freemen,  and  to  fit  them 
to  share  in  the  privileges  of  this  Union.  Whatever  is  ^necessary 
to  this  object  Congress  is  authorized  to  do." — Mr.  Berricn,  vol.  1, 
p.  875. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.     .  379 

For  myself,  sir,  I  take  it  that  the  reason  for  the  exercise  of  this 
power  of  government  by  Congress,  is  simply  that  the  Territories 
may  be  governed,  and  not  left  without  political  organization,  and 
as  there  are  no  means  provided  for  the  institution  of  a  government 
by  the  people  of  a  territory,  Congress  has  interfered  to  attain  that 

object. 

##**#*##** 

If  the  right  to  admit  new  States  gives  the  right  to  acquire  terri- 
tory before  it  becomes  a  State,  with  a  view  to  its  government  by 
Congress,  in  order  that  it  may  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  it  seems 
to  me  many  other  constitutional  powers  of  Congress  would  equally 
justify  foreign  acquisitions,  in  order  that  these  powers  might  be 
exercised  over  them.  Because  you  can  admit  new  States,  there- 
fore you  can  acquire  territory  wherein  to  form  them.  Because 
you  can  lay  and  collect  taxes,  &/c.,  therefore  you  can  acquire  ter- 
ritory where  they  may  be  levied  and  collected.  I  am  speaking,  as 
Judge  Johnson  was  speaking,  of  the  incidental  and  not  of  the  di- 
rect power  of  Congress.  The  direct  power  of  admission  makes  no 
distinction  between  foreign  and  domestic  States,  and  therefore 
sanctioned  the  annexation  of  Texas.  But,  if  Texas  had  been  a 
colonial  possession,  and  we  had  sought  to  acquire  it  before  its  ad- 
mission, we  must  have  found  some  other  provision  of  the  Consti- 
tution than  this,  to  justify  such  action.  In  the  one  case  the. act  of 
admitting  is  the  exercise  of  a  direct  power  ;  in  the  other,  the  act  of 
acquiring  is  for  the  purpose  of  admission,  and  is,  therefore,  an  in- 
cident which  precedes,  if  I  may  so  speak,  instead  of  following,  the 
power  to  which  it  is  incidental.  The  derivative  operates  first,  not 
as  a  means  to  aid  the  operation  of  the  principal,  but  to  call  the 
principal*  into  existence,  by  furnishing  the  subject,  without  which 
it  could  not  be  exercised.  This  proposition  is  not  in  the  book  of 
the  Constitution,  nor  justified  by  its  spirit  or  objects. 

4.  The  right  to  sell. 

5.  The  right  of  ownership. 

6.  The  right  or  duty  of  settlement. 

Each  of  these  rights  is  assumed  and  advocated,  as  a  justification 
for  the  exercise  of  "  complete  jurisdiction"  over  the  Territories  ; 
and  I  place  them  together  because  they  bear  a  new  relation  to  one 
another. 

I  have  sought  in  vain,  in  the  earlier  opinions  of  the  courts  and 
in  the  views  of  the  commentators  on  the  Constitution,  any  support 
of  the  doctrine  that  the  rights  of  sale  or  of  ownership  necessarily 
carry  with  them  unlimited  jurisdiction  over  the  country  to  which 
they  are  attached.  It  is  one  of  the  discoveries  which  we  owe  to 
this  prolific  controversy,  and  has  been  urged  with  a  good  deal  of 
zeal  both  here  and  at  the  other  end  of  the  Capitol. 

But  sir,  this  assumption  of  necessary  action  which  claims  for 
Congress  the  right  of  entire  legislation  over  the  Territories,  is  met 
and  refuted  by  the  fact  that  Congress  from  1787  to  this  day,  has 
never  exercised  any  such  power,  and,  therefore,  its  exercise  is  not 


380  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

necessary  in  order  to  dispose  of  the  public  land.  I  have  already 
adverted  to  the  great  difference,  both  in  principle  and  practice, 
between  the  right  to  organize  governments  and  the  right  to  exer- 
cise full  legislative  jurisdiction,  endeavoring  to  show  that  whatever 
justification,  whether  from  necessity  or  construction,  there  may  be 
for  the  former,  there  can  be  none  for  the  latter.  I  have  remarked 
that  in  the  various  speeches,  decisions,  and  essays,  which  touch 
this  general  question,  there  is  no  established  distinction  preserved 
between  the  exercise  of  these  powers,  the  one  or  the  other  being 
often  referred  to  in  convertible  terms  ;  and  one  of  our  ablest  mem- 
bers thus  states  the  question  : 

"  Has  Congress  the  right,  under  the  Constitution,  to  legislate  for  the 
territory  of  the  United  States,  organize  governments  for  the  inhabitants 
residing  therein,  and  regulate  within  it  all  matters  of  local  and  domestic 
concern  ?  I  believe  this  question  [not  questions,  the  speaker  evidently 
considering  the  power  as  one  and  the  same]  can  be  satisi'actorily  answer- 
ed in  the  affirmative." — Mr.  Dix,  to/.  1,  p.  862. 

And  yet  it  is  very  clear  that  the  preservation  of  legal  order  being 
the  object  to  be  attained,  as  a  constitutional  justification  for  the 
action  of  Congress,  if  this  has  been  attained  without  the  exercise 
of  the  power  to  regulate  "  all  matters  of  local  and  domestic  con- 
cern, '  then  the  fact  is  decidedly  shown  that  such  general  power  is 
not  necessary  to  the  sale  of  the  public  land,  such  land  having  al- 
ways been  sold  without  it.  The  Territorial  Governments,  have  in 
all  cases  conducted  the  internal  affairs  of  the  Territories;  and  not 
one  single  instance  of  legislation  by  Congress  can  be  produced, 
providing  for  the  punishment  of  offences  in  the  Territories,  except, 
indeed,  in  those  cases  arising  out  of  its  peculiar  jurisdiction,  con- 
ferred by  the  Constitution,  and  which  applies  equally  to  them  and 
to  the  States.  That  peace  and  good  order,  which  gentlemen  con- 
sider so  essential  to  the  sale  of  the  public  land,  have  been  preser- 
ved by  Territorial,  and  not  by  Congressional  legislation.  I  repeat 
emphatically,  that  not  a  single  exception  to  this  proposition  is  to 
be  found  in  the  statute-book.  There  are,  indeed,  some  half  dozen 
provisions  concerning  civil  rights,  which  have  no  relation  to  the 
fair  power  of  establishing  a  government,  but  belong  to  the  internal 
domestic  affairs  of  the  people  themselves,  which  may  be  found  in 
the  ordinance  of  1787,  and  in  the  subsequent  action  of  Congress. 
But  waiving,  for  the  present,  the  objection  in  principle  to  their 
introduction,  and  granting  that  Congress  knew  what  was  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people  better  than  they  did  for  themselves,  and  that 
these  instances  for  their  interference  were  wise,  and  wisely  con- 
ducted, still  no  man  will  contend  that  they  were  necessary  to  the 
preservation  of  order,  or  that  the  attainment  of  that  object  alone 
justified  their  introduction. 

***** 

The  provision  of  the  Constitution  which  declares  that  "  all  debts 
and  engagements  entered  into  before  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu- 
tion shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United  States,  under  this  Consti- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  381 

tution,  as  under  the  Confederation,"  has  been  relied  upon  as  gran- 
ting or  establishing  the  power  to  exercise  complete  political  juris- 
diction over  the  Territories. 
The  argument  is  thus  urged  : 

"  That  ordinance,  then,  [the  ordinance  of  1787,1  was  a  compact,  an  en- 
gagement, a  contract,  between  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  their 
collective  capacity,  and  the  people  who  should  inhabit  this  new  territory." 
— Mr.  Murphy,  vol.  1,  p.  680. 

A  compact  is  a  constitutional  engagement.  This  ordinance, 
therefore,  is  rendered  valid,  so  far  as  regards  the  Territorial  gov- 
ernment of  1787,  "and  this  express  acknowledgment  of  this  com- 
pact by  Congress,  after  the  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution,  as 
well  as  the  recognition  of  it  by  the  Constitution,  made  it  binding, 
ratified  it,  and  cured  it  of  any  unconstitutionality  under  the  Con- 
federation which,  it  might  previously  have  been  obnoxious  to." — 
(Same, p.  680.) 

So  far  as  respects  the  "express  acknowledgment  of  this  compact 
by  Congress,  after  the  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution,"  as  I  know 
nothing,  I  have  nothing  to  say.  It  has  no  place  in  this  discussion. 
The  acknowledgment  of  Congress,  even  if  any  were  to  be  found, 
could  not  change  the  constitutional  nature  of  this  territorial  "  com- 
pact," as  it  is  called.  Its  validity  must  be  tested  by  the  Constitu- 
tion itself,  and  not  by  Congressional  acknowledgments.  Territory 
since  acquired  (the  speaker  contends)  may  be  governed  in  conse- 
quence of  the  right  of  acquisition,  while  all  the  region  embracing 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Tenessee,  is  a  casus  omissus,  for  which 
the  Constitution  provides  no  power  of  government ;  for  I  have  al- 
ready remarked  that  the  cessions  of  the  States  could  not  enlarge 
the  powers  of  Congress. 

What  I  have  to  say  upon  this  subject  I  shall  say  very  briefly. 
In  the  first  place  it  is  clear  to  me,  from  the  words  and  the  context 
and,  I  may  add,  from  the  evident  object  in  view,  that  the  clause 
respecting  "debts  contracted  and  the  engagements  entered  into" 
has  no  relation  to  the  exercise  of  political  power. 

In  the  next  place,  the  whole  argument  is  founded  upon  a  palpa- 
ble error,  which  the  most  cursory  examination  should  have  detected. 
The  territorial  government,  established  by 'the  ordinance  of  1787, 
was  no  compact.  It  assumes  no  such  characteristic  in  that  instru- 
ment, though  this  error  has  been  so  general  that  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  members  of  this  body  speaks  of  the  ordinance  "  as 
assuming  the  form  of  a  compact."  It  assumes  to  be  merely  an  or- 
dinary act  of  legislation,  "  ordained  by  the  United  States  in  Con- 
gress assembled,"  agreeably  to  the  formula  then  in  use.  Th«  local 
government  is  organized,  with  all  the  provisions  which  concern  it, 
in  eleven  sections  or  divisions,  which  occupy  two-thirds  of  the  or- 
dinance, and  it  would  have  been  perfectly  absurd  to  declare  these 
temporary  arrangements  "  a  compact  between  the  original  States 
*  and  the  people  and  States  in  the  said  territory,  and  forever  unal- 
'  terable,  unless  by  common  consent."  Why,  they  have  been  al- 


382  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

tered  time  and  again  by  Congress,  without  the  slightest  opposition, 
and  no  voice  has  ever  been  raised  to  object  to  these  alterations  on 
account  of  this  inviolability.  The  judges  were  at  first  appointed 
during  good  behavior.  This  tenure  was  afterwards  reduced  to 
three  years.  The  legislative  council  were  to  be  elected  by  Con- 
gress from  a  list  containing  double  the  necessary  number,  nomina- 
ted by  the  House  of  Representatives.  This  eventually  gave  way 
to  a  popular  election.  The  governor  at  first  had  the  appointment 
of  all  officers,  but  the  concurrence  of  the  legislative  council  in  his 
nomination  was  afterwards  required.  The  delegate  to  Congress 
was  elected  by  the  Legislature.  This  election  was  subsequently 
given  to  the  people.  These  changes,  and  there  are  many  more  in 
the  several  governments,  upon  which  the  ordinance  of  1787  oper- 
ated, are  enough  to  show  that  they  were  considered  within  the 
control  of  Congressional  authority,  protected  by  no  character  of 
inviolability. 

But  it  is  all  idle  to  talk  about  the  compacts  in  the  ordinance  of 
1787.  The  articles  so  designated  are  destitute  of  the  very  first 
elements  of  reciprocal  obligation.  There  was  but  one  party  to 
them.  The  other  party  had  not  yet  come  into  being,  or,  rather, 
the  other  party  was  not  heard  at  all ;  for  it  was  composed  of  the 
inhabitants  then  living  in  the  Territory — the  settlers  upon  the 
Wabash,  in  the  Illinois  country,  in  the  Detroit  country,  at  Green 
Bay,  and  at  Prairie  du  Chien.  These  constituted  the  counter  party 
then  in  existence,  and  this  compact  was  declared  binding  upon 
them  and  their  descendants,  and  irrevocably  so,  without  their  con- 
sent and  without  their  knowledge.  Why,  sir,  if  there  had  been 
but  one  man  in  that  country — and  there  were  many  thousands,  and 
among  these  not  a  few  emigrants  from  the  States— he  would  not 
have  been  bound  by  a  compact  he  never  heard  of,  and  to  which 
his  consent  was  never  required,  either  expressly  or  impliedly,  and 
much  less  the  people  then  there.  As  to  making  a  contract  with 
unborn  States  and  millions,  by  the  simple  act  of  a  foreign  body, 
constituting  itself  one  of  the  parties,  and  acting  for  the  other,  and 
without  any  means  being  provided  for  procuring  their  assent  in  all 
time,  either  by  the  act  of  the  then  existing  or  of  any  future  gene- 
ration, by  an  acceptance  of  the  terms  held  out,  or  by  any  other 
mode,  had  not  our  own  ears  told  us  the  contrary,  we  might  well 
have  doubted  whether  a  man  could  be  found  to  contend  for  so 
strange  a  doctrine. 

Besides  the  want  of  parties,  there  was  a  total  want  of  power. 
No  man  with  any  regard  to  himself,  looking  to  the  articles  of  the 
old  Confederation,  can  deny  this,  even  if  we  had  not  the  authori- 
tative declaration  of  Mr.  Madison,  when  speaking  of  it  as  a  ques- 
tion neither  disputed  nor  disputable,  to  which  Mr.  Adams  assents. 
The  articles  are  utterly  silent  on  the  point,  and  the  exercise  of  the 
power  was  an  open  assumption  of  authority.  If  the  "engage- 
ment,'' supposing  there  to  have  been  one,  wanted  validity,  the 
Constitution  gave  it  none,  but  left  it  as  it  found  it.  A  member  of 


L1FB    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

the  other  House,  whose  zeal  certainly  outstripped  his  discretion 
when  he  said,  in  quoting  his  previous  opinions,  that  "  he  had  ego- 
tism enough  to  believe  his  as  good  as  any  other  authority,"  and  in 
doing  so  "  that  he  but  followed  the  examples  of  the  courts  in 
which  it  was  the  regular  and  every-day  practice  to  cite  their  own 
decisions,"  declared  also,  quite  ex  cathedra,  that  "  he  should  be 
able  to  show,  &,c.,  that  these  six  articles  of  the  ordinance  were 
for  ever  binding,  unless  altered  by  mutual  consent,  and  that  no 
one  in  Indiana  had  ever  been  '  silly  enough '  to  doubt  the  validity 
of  the  ordinance,"  (Mr.  Pettit,  vol.  1,  p.  718.)  It  is  not  the  va- 
lidity of  the  ordinance  we  are  now  seeking  as  an  ordinary  act  of 
legislation,  but  its  inviolability  or  perpetual  obligation.  The  speak- 
er confounds  two  propositions  entirely  different  in  their  nature. 
Let  me  ask  him  if  any  one  in  Indiana  ever  doubted  the  power  of 
the  people  of  that  State  to  assemble  in  convention,  and  to  intro- 
duce slavery  there  if  they  please  ? — to  abolish  the  English  com- 
mon law,  and  substitute  the  Code  Napoleon,  or  the  Louisiana  code, 
or  even  the  contume  de  Paris,  which  at  one  time  was  the  law  of  a 
part  of  Indiana,  or  nature  of  bail  for  offences,  or  find  a  better 
remedy  for  the  preservation  of  personal  liberty  than  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  1 — all  which  are  declared  by  the  ordinance  to  be 
forever  unalterable,  but  by  common  consent,  or,  in  other  words, 
they  are  questions  of  internal  policy,  which  the  people  are  not 
sovereign  enough  to  touch  without  the  consent  of  Congress.  I 
had  supposed,  till  now,  that  the  new  States  were  admitted  into  the 
Union  on  "  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States,  in  all  respects 
whatever."  But  if  this  doctrine  of  the  perpetual  obligation  of 
this  ordinance  be  correct,  the  new  States  and  the  old  States  oc- 
cupy very  different  positions  in  the  Union,  and  the  ppwers  of  the 
latter  are  much  greater  than  those  of  the  former.  As  a  citizen  of 
the  Northwest,  I  object  toto  cado  to  this  humiliating  difference, 
and  I  doubt  if  the  gentleman  will  find  many  converts  to  his  opin- 
ion in  his  own  State. 

In  support  of  his  views,  he  asks  where  the  United  States  got 
the  title  of  the  public  lands,  but  in  one  of  the  provisions  of  this 
"  compact,"  which  prohibits  the  new  States  from  any  interference 
in  their  disposition.  Why,  sir,  the  United  States  got  the  title  of 
the  public  lands  from  the  deeds  of  cession  of  the  States,  who 
owned  them,  and  Congress  got  the  power  to  sell  and  control  them, 
not  from  the  ordinance,  which,  as  we  have  seen  by  the  opinion  of 
Mr.  Madison,  and  which  may  be  seen  at  any  time  by  a  reference 
to  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  was  valueless  for  that  purpose ; 
but  from  the  constitntional  authority  to  make  "  all  the  needful 
rules  and  regulations"  respecting  them,  which  was  introduced  to 
secure  this  very  object. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  sir,  that  this  form  of  a  compact  was 
given  to  these  important  articles  of  the  ordinance,  in  the  absence 
of  all  real  power  over  the  subject,  as  having  somewhat  the  appear- 
ance of  a  mutual  arrangement,  and  therefore  obnoxious  to  less 


384  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

censure  than  a  direct  assumption  of  authority  would  have  been. 
The  first  ordinance,  (for  that  of  1767  is  the  second,)  the  ordinance 
of  April  23,  1784,  which,  however,  was  repealed  by  the  other  be- 
fore it  went  into  operation,  contained  also  this  declared  compact, 
but  in  a  much  more  imposing  form  than  it  afterwards  assumed. 
It  provided,  that  "  the  foregoing  articles  shall  be  formed  into  a 
charter  of  compact,  shall  be  duly  executed  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  under  his  hand  and  the  seal 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  promulgated,  and  shall  stand  as  fun- 
damental constitutions."  &c.,  &,c.  I  presume  this  pushing  com- 
pacts into  constitutions  for  the  new  States  by  the  sole  authority  of 
Congress  was  afterwards  thought  to  be  going  a  little  too  far,  and 
the  more  modest  form  was  finally  adopted. 

It  is  a  singular  commentary  on  the  positive  declarations  of  the 
inviolability  of  this  ordinance,  that  at  the  very  time  they  were  aiade, 
an  act  of  Congress  was  passed,  almost  without  opposition,  viola- 
ting this  ordinance  in  a  fundamental  particular.  And  we  have 
been  told  by  the  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee  of  the  sen- 
ate, that  although  the  question  was  raised  before  the  committee, 
four  of  the  members  out  of  five  considered  it  of  no  weight,  and 
the  bill  passed  this  body  without  even  a  discussion  upon  it.  Among 
the  articles  of  compact  was  one  which  provided  that  there  should 
not  be  less  than  three  nor  more  than  five  States  in  the  Northwest 
Territory.  This  power  had  been  exhausted,  and  the  five  States 
admitted  into  the  Union.  But  a  large  portion  of  the  territory  has 
been  detached  from  these  States,  and  now  forms  part  of  the  Min- 
nesota Territory,  to  be  organized  into  a  separate  State,  or  to  form 
part  of  another,  with  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi.  So  much 

for  the  irrepealable  articles  of  compact. 

***** 

Now,  sir,  as  to  the  congressional  precedents.  But,  before  I  pro- 
ceed to  consider  them,  permit  me  to  make  a  quotation  from  the  val- 
uable work  of  an  able  and  accomplished  jurist,  and  most  worthy 
man,  the  late  Chancellor  Kent.  How  an  expositor  of  our  Consti- 
tution could  maintain  the  existence  of  a  legislative  right  by  the 
mere  exercise  of  a  legislative  power,  as  I  know  not,  I  shall  not  at- 
tempt to  explain.  It  is  another  proof  that  if  we  have  not  fallen  on 
evil  times,  we  have  fallen  on  strange  ones. 

"It  would  seem  from  the  various  congressional  regulations  of 
the  territories  belonging  to  the  United  States,  that  Congress  have 
supreme  power,  and  the  government  of  them,  depending  upon  their 
sound  discretion." 

So  much  for  the  statute  book,  instead  of  the  constitution. 

But,  sir,  let  us  look  at  these  congressional  regulations.  Fifteen 
territorial  governments  have  been  organized  since  the  adoption  of 
the  constitution,  differing  in  detail,  but  with  one  general  principle 
pervading  them,  not  rigidly  adhered  to,  indeed,  but  sufficiently 
marked  to  show  that  it  was  the  guiding  feature  of  legislation — the 
right  of  the  local  governments  to  conduct  the  internal  affairs  of 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.        •  385 

their  respective  Territories.  This  series  of  legislation  certainly 
proves,  as  Judge  Marshall  says,  the  possession  of  the  power,  and 
that  its  exercise  has  been  necessary  ;  but  it  leaves  its  origin  to  be 
sought  elsewhere,  in  the  will  of  the  people,  expressed  in  the  char- 
ter of  their  government,  or  in  the  very  necessity  of  the  case. 

I  have  said  the  "local  governments,"  but  I  do  not  mean  by  that 
expression  that  in  the  earlier  ages  of  territorial  political  history, 
these  governments  were  controlled  as  much  as  they  should  have 
been  by  the  people.  They  were  not ;  for  a  very  unjustifiable  sys- 
tem was  introduced — that  of  authorizing  the  governor  and  judges 
to  pass  laws  by  adopting  them,  and,  of  course,  with  many  changes 
from  the  laws  of  the  original  States.  No  one  would  be  now 
found  hardy  enough  to  propose  such  a  plan  ;  it  is  among  the  things 
that  have  been.  It  preserved,  indeed,  the  distinction  between  the 
general  and  the  local  governments ;  but  it  confounded  all  the  just 
divisions  of  power,  and  in  principle  annihilated  every  vestige  of 
popular  right.  It  was  a  mere  act  of  arbitrary  power. 

No  man  can  turn  over  the  original  articles  of  confederation 
without  being  sensible  that  Mr.  Madison  was  right  when  he  said 
that  in  assuming  the  administration  of  the  public  lands,  and  ma- 
king them  productive,  and  in  erecting  temporary  governments  over 
the  Territories,  Congress  had  acted  without  the  least  color  of  con- 
stitutional authority. 

From  one  end  to  the  other  of  that  instrument  there  is  not  a  sin- 
gle grant  of  power  which,  directly  or  indirectly,  looks  to  such  ob- 
jects. The  whole  was  a  mere  assumption,  justified  only,  as  Mr. 
Madison  says,  by  the  "public  interest,  the  necessity  of  the  case, 
which  imposed  on  them  the  task  of  overleaping  their  constitutional 
limits."  A  gentleman,  now  no  longer  here,  who  investigated  this 
subject,  as  he  did  all  others,  with  great  care,  has  supposed  that,  as 
Mr.  Madison  stated  the  defects  of  the  confederation,  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  supplying  them  by  a  new  government,  this  consideration 
leads  almosr  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that  he  viewed  the  pro- 
vision respecting  "rules  and  regulations"  as  the  foundation  of  po- 
litical jurisdiction. — (Mr.  Dix,  vol.  Ij  863.)  This  is  not  so,  sir. 
The  old  Congress  did  these  things  without  color  of  authority — 
erected  temporary  governments,  provided  for  the  admission  of  new 
States,  and  assumed  the  administration  and  sales  of  the  public 
lands.  The  former  was  a  power  spent — it  had  performed  its  office. 
The  political  organization  embraced  all  the  territory  then  held  by 
the  United  States ;  and  it  is  not  at  all  probable,  though  the  gene- 
ral provisions  were  doubtless  known,  that  the  details  of  the  ordi- 
nance were  ever  critically  examined  by  the  convention,  who  were 
occupied  by  subjects  then  vastly  more  important  to  them  ;  though, 
indeed,  a  member  of  the  House  suggests  that,  as  the  convention 
and  the  old  Congress  sat  at  the  same  place,  there  was  probably  a 
conference,  at  which  the  ordinance,  or  some  of  its  subjects,  were 
discussed  and  mutually  arranged.  The  convention  sat  at  Phila- 
delphia, and  the  Congress  at  New- York ;  and  thus  falls  this  con- 

25 


386  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

jecture,  built  upon  a  supposed  coincidence  of  time  and  place.  And 
thus  it  happened  that  there  is  no  reference  whatever  to  this  ordi- 
nance to  be  found  in  the  constitution,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
nor  any  provision  for  the  institution  of  temporary  governments,  the 
necessity  for  such  a  case  not  being  foreseen — the  power  having 
been  acted  upon  and  spent. 

But  the  admission  of  new  States  was  provided  for,  being  obvi- 
ously a  power  that  Congress  would  be  called  on  to  exercise  ;  un- 
less, indeed,  this  new  doctrine,  that  the  ordinance  was  among  those 
"debts  and  engagements"  which  the  constitution  declared  should 
continue  valid  ;  for,  in  that  case,  new  States  could  have  been  ad- 
mitted upon  the  original  pledge,  and  any  other  grant  of  authority 
was  unnecessary. 

And  the  administration,  too,  of  the  public  laws  could  not  be  car- 
ried on  without  the  action  of  the  new  Congress,  exercised  almost 
from  day  to  day  ;  and  the  necessary  authority  for  this  purpose  was 
provided  by  the  power  to  dispose  of  the  public  property  and  to  re- 
gulate it. 

And  here  the  constitution  stops,  leaving  the  right  to  establish 
temporary  governments  unprovided,  the  power  having  been  exer- 
cised dc facto,  and  no  other  territory  remaining;  not  because  the 
subject  was  not  examined ;  but  because  it  was  examined  and  judg- 
ed unnecessary,  as  is  proved  by  the  rejection  of  the  following  pro- 
position in  the  convention  declaring  that  Congress  should  be 
clothed  with  power  "to  institute  temporary  governments  for  the 

new  States  arising  therein." 

***** 

Why,  then,  have  Congress  exercised  the  power  of  governing  the 
Territories  ?  and  why  has  their  action  been  submitted  to  in  the 
absence  of  any  constitutional  authority  ?  Let  the  remarks  of  Mr. 
Madison,  on  the  assumption  of  the  same  power  by  the  Congress  of 
the  confederation,  and  in  which  he  participated,  give,  the  only  an- 
swer that  can  be  given  to  the  question  :  "All  this  has  been  done," 
he  says  in  the  Federalist — that  is,  governments  have  been  organ- 
ized, &/c.,  "without  the  least  color  of  constitutional  authority." 
He  adds  that  he  imputes  no  blame  to  Congress,  because  they  could 
not  have  done  otherwise.  "The  public  interest,  the  necessity  of 
the  case,  imposed  on  them  the  task  of  overleaping  their  constitu- 
tional authority."  As  I  have  already  remarked,  sir,  there  are  clear 
indications,  in  the  opinions  of  Judge  Marshall  and  of  Judge  Story, 
that  this  "necessity  of  the  case,"  or  "inevitable  consequence,"  was 
in  their  view,  one  of  the  grounds  of  justification  for  the  action  of 
Congress  upon  this  subject,  since  the  adoption  of  the  constitution. 
"  Perhaps,"  says  the  former,  "the  power  of  governing  a  Territory, 
&c.,  may  result  necessarily  from  the  fact  that  it  is  not  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  any  particular  State,  and  is  within  the  po\ver  of  the 
United  States."  The  latter  adopts  the  same  idea  when  he  says, 
"  it  must  consequently  be  under  the  dominion  and  jurisdiction  of 
the  Union,  oi  it  would  be  without  any  government  at  all."  This 


LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS.  387 

condition  of  things  imposes  the  moral  necessity  to  which  both  the 
Congress  of  the  confederation  and  the  Congress  of  the  constitution 
have  yielded.  Now,  sir,  I  am  as  far  as  Mr.  Madison  was  from 
seeking  to  justify  political  action  by  the  oft  repeated  plea  of  neces- 
sity. It  has  no  place  in  a  constitutional  code.  It  is  a  mere  as- 
sumption, and  nothing  more  nor  less.  But  when  such  a  case  hap- 
pens, they  incur  the  responsibility  who  yield  to  the  necessity,  and 
must  throw  themselves  upon  the  country  for  their  justification.  If 
supported  by  public  sentiment,  they  are  safe;  if  not,  they  and  their 
measures  must  fall  together.  Certainly  it  is  the  moral  duty  of  any 
country,  holding  distant  possessions,  to  institute  governments  for 
the  preservation  of  social  order.  And  here,  and  here.alone,  is  the 
foundation  of  the  power  of  government  as  exercised  by  Congress. 
It  was  assumed  to  preserve  social  order  in  distant  regions ;  and 
had  it  been  confined  to  its  proper  purpose,  the  institution  of  gov- 
ernments without  interfering  in  the  internal  concerns  of  the  peo- 
ple to  be  governed,  it  would  everywhere  have  gone  on  to  its  proper 
consummation,  the  establishment  of  State  government,  without  ha- 
ving its  validity  called  in  question.  There  were  at  first  no  pecu- 
liar circumstances  to  call  public  attention  to  the  few  violations  of 
the  great  principle  of  self-government,  which  these  organic  laws 
contained,  and,  with  one  exception,  these  interferences  were  for 
the  assertion  of  great  well  known  principles,  founded  in  the  En- 
glish law,  and  adopted  into  ours,  and  were  thus  the  less  likely  to 
provoke  investigation  into  the  validity  of  their  origin.  All  the 
Territories  have  been  governed  upon  this  general  principle  of  Con- 
gressional jurisdiction,  leaving  to  the  people  to  be  affected  by  them 
the  passnge  of  laws  suited  to  their  condition — a  principle  not  only 
safe  in  itself,  but  familiar  to  every  American,  as  being  the  very 
condition  claimed  by  our  revolutionary  fathers,  when  they  com- 
menced their  discussions  with  England.  The  violations  of  it  were 
few — different  in  different  organic  laws,  and  unnecessary  in  all — 
and  when  pointed  out  to  the  public  attention,  by  the  circumstances 
of  the  times,  were  strenuously  objected  to,  as  justified  neither  by 
law  or  necessity,  and  therefore  deriving  no  sanction  from  prece- 
ding legislation. 

Upon  this  subject  of  territorial  government,  Congress  began 
right,  and  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  why  they  afterwards  admitted 
modifications  at  war  with  the  true  principles  of  safe  legislation. 
The  original  ordinance  of  April  23,  1784,  the  predecessor  of  the 
ordinance  of  1787,  provided  that  the  "settlers  on  any  territory  so 
purchased"  might,  on  application,  receive  authority  from  Congress 
to  meet  together  and  establish  temporary  governments,  &>c. 

Now,  sir,  among  all  the  other  reasons  given  for  the  exercise  of 
legislation  by  Congress  over  the  territories,  there  is  but  one  which 
derives  it  from  an  express  grant  of  power  in  the  constitution,  and 
that  grant  is  found  in  the  authority  to  dispose  of  and  make  rules 
and  regulations  for  the  public  property.  I  put  the  proposition 
thus,  because  it  is  thus  put  by  the  supreme  court.  If  this  clause 


388  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

contain  within  itself"  complete  jurisdiction"  and  "  plenary  pow- 
ers "  of  legislation  over  all  persons  living  on  the  public  property, 
but  till  it  becomes  a  State  of  this  Union,  then  the  Wilmot  proviso 
is  constitutional,  and,  as  a  member  from  the  west  says,  "  this  gov- 
ernment could  sell  the  territories  into  slavery." 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  power  of  superior  legislation  is  deduced 
as  an  auxiliary  to  some  other  Congressional  power,  or  to  some  at- 
tribute, or  what  not,  then  its  exercise  is  limited  by  the  circumstan- 
ces to  which  it  owes  its  origin.  All  the  clauses  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  all  the  clauses  out  of  the  Constitution,  which  have  been 
referred  to  us  the  foundation  of  this  power,  require  its  exercise 
solely  as  the  means  of  insuring  law  and  order  to  the  public  terri- 
tory. That  power,  as  Mr.  Madison  says,  is  in  "  suspension  of  the 
great  principle  of  self-government,  and  ought  not  to  be  extended 
further  nor  continued  longer  than  the  occasion  might  fairly  re- 
quire " 

And  yet  this  principle  of  limitation,  so  obvious,  and  so  obviously 
just,  is  considered  by  an  eminent  lawyer  in  the  Senate  as  absurd. 
He  cannot,  he  says,  conceive  a  greater  bundle  of  absurdities  than 
a  proposition  that  a  territorial  legislature  may  exercise  local  pow- 
ers which  Congress  cannot.  Well,  sir,  those  of  us,  credulously 
inclined,  find  ourselves  in  pretty  good  company,  which  furnishes 
some  relief  to  our  self-love  thus  sensibly  wounded.-  Mr.  Madison's 
opinion  I  have  just  quoted,  and  I  will  quote  another,  which  car- 
ried some  weight  with  it  once,  though  now  it  seems  a  good  deal 
-out  of  fashion,  and  has  even  become  an  absurdity.  It  is  to  be 
found  in  the  declaration  of  the  Continental  Congress  of  1774,  and 
thus  reads:  The  English  colonists  "  are  entitled  to  a  free  and  ex- 
clusive power  of  legislation  in  their  several  provincial  legislatures, 
where  their  right  of  representation  car\  alone  be  preserved  in  all 

cases  of  taxation  and  internal  polity, "&-c. 

*  »  *  *  •*  *  * 

The  power,  whatever  it  is,  comes  from  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  And  here  is  precisely  the  root  of  the  error  which  leads  to 
all  these  metaphysical  subtleties.  What  the  Constitution  permits 
Congress  may  do,  and  nothing  more.  If  the  Constitution  permits 
it  to  institute  governments  for  the  territories,  and  withholds  the 
right  to  interfere  in  their  internal  concerns,  while  the  former  may 
be  exercised,  the  latter  must  be  avoided,  and  all  the  scholas'tic  re- 
finements of  the  olden  or  of  the  latter  times  cannot  change,  in  one 
jot  or  tittle,  this  fundamental  proposition.  This  new  political  ax- 
iom will  hardly  supersede  the  Constitution.  Congress  assumes  the 
right  to  authorize  the  people  of  the  territories  to  meet  in  conven- 
tion to  form  constitutions  and  State  governments.  In  like  man- 
ner it  assumes  the  right  to  authorize  the  people  of  the  territories 
to  exercise  many  of  the  privileges  of  self-government.  And  its 
power  to  do  this  must  be  tried,  not  by  its  power  to  do  a  great  deal 
more,  but  'by  the  great  charter,  the  fountain  of  its  authority. 
Whether  this  difference  in  fact  exists  between  the  power  of  gor- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

ernment  and  the  power  of  internal  legislation  under  the  principles 
of  the  constitution,  is  precisely  one  of  the  branches  of  the  inquiry 

before  us. 

******* 

And  this  brings  me  to  the  nature  of  this  congressional  legisla- 
tion, and  its  effect  upon  the  people  of  the  territories.  Does  it  en- 
able them  to  exercise  a  portion  of  their  natural  rights,  by  provid- 
ing for  the  organization  of  their  government,  as  the  acts  of  Con- 
gress passed  for  the  purpose  enable  them  to  elect  their  convention, 
and  form  a  state  constitution  ?  or  does  it  confer  upon  them  these 
rights,  as  well  as  the  means  of  enjoying  them  ?  Do  they  belong 
to  Congress  first,  and  are  they  then  doled  out  to  the  people  as  far 
and  as  fast  as  may  suit  the  Congressional  temper,  or  as  some  pas- 
sing political  struggle  may  permit?  Had  it  not  been  for  the  les- 
son which  this  discussion  has  taught  us,  I  should  not  have  sup- 
posed there  was  a  man  in  this  broad  republic  who  was  not  willing 
merely,  but  anxious  to  render  to  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's 
— to  attribute  to  the  people  the  things  that  belong  to  them.  But 
it  is  not  so.  The  doctrines  we  have  heard  advanced  upon  this 
subject  are  precisely  those  which  are  at  war  with  human  freedom 
in  Europe,  and  which  have  achieved  a  temporary  triumph  in  Hun- 
gary, in  Italy,  and  in  Germany  ;  and  they  are  maintained  and  il- 
lustrated by  the  same,  or  by  kindred  arguments  and  observations. 
We  are  sovereign ;  therefore  we  have  the  right  to  legislate  over 
the  territories  in  all  cases  whatsoever.  The  major  includes  the  mi- 
nor;  therefore  'we,  the  greater,  have  unlimited  legislation  over  the 
less.  There  can  be  no  half  sovereignty  ;  therefore  the  territories 
have  no  rights.  Congress  is  made  to  confer  a  power  it  does  not 
possess,  and  thence  it  follows  that  these  unfortunate  communities 
may  be  sold  into  slavery,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  chapter, 
from  Poland  to  Oregon.  And  human'rights  are  thus  frittered  away 
and  sacrificed,  not  to  constitutional  principles,  but  to  metaphysi- 
cal refinements  which  might  almost  provoke  the  envy  of  the  Stagy- 
rite  himself,  and  of  the  whole  peripatetic  school  he  founded.  And 
in  a  similar  spirit  it  is  clearly  proved  that,  as  one  man  does  not 
make  a  people,  we  must  show  by  some  demonstration  how  many 
it  takes  for  that  purpose,  and  how  far  apart  they  must  reside  to 
make  two  people ;  or  it  is  vain  to  talk  of  their  rights  or  their 
wrongs,  or  to  secure  the  one  or  redress  the  other.  He  who  under* 
takes  to  apply  the  square  and  the  compass  to  human  rights,  natu- 
ral or  political,  will  find  he  is  dealing  with  a  subject  beyond  his 
reach,  and  which  has  eluded  many  a  mightier  grasp  than  his  own. 

And  we  are  asked,  where  did  the  people  of  the  Territories  get 
the  right  to  legislate  for  themselves?  Where  did  they  get  it? 
They  got  it  from  Almighty  God ;  and  from  the  same  omnipotent 
and  beneficent  Being  who  gave  us  our  rights,  and  who  gave  to  our 
fathers  the  power  and  the  will  to  assert  and  maintain  them. 

I  am  not  speaking  of  a  revolution.  This  is  a  just  remedy  for 
violated  rights.  But  I  am  speaking  of  a  right  inherent  in  every 


390  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

•     •  • 

community — that  of  having  a  share  in  making  the  laws  which  are 
to  govern  them,  and  of  which  nothing  but  despotic  power  can  de- 
prive them.  That  power  in  Europe  is  the  sword.  Here  political 
metaphysics  come  to  take  its  place.  The  people  of  the  Territories 
get  the  opportunity  of  enjoying  this  right  of  government,  of  bring- 
ing it  into  practical  operation,  from  Congressional  interposition, 
and  they  then  possess  it  with  no  other  limitations  than  those  arising 
out  of  the  Constitution  and  of  their  relations  to  the  United  States. 
Their  powers  of  legislation  embrace  all  the  subjects  belonging  to 
the  social  condition.  There  is  no  act  of  Congress  respecting  any 
of  the  territories  which  undertakes  to  enumerate  the  various  objects 
of  legislation,  and  then  to  confer  jurisdiction  over  them.  The 
whole  power  is  conveyed,  with  the  very  few  exceptions  I  have  sta» 
ted,  and  these  are  expressly  withheld.  The  only  one,  indeed,  I 
now  recollect,  though  I  do  not  speak  positively,  except  general 
•provisions  for  the  security  of  private  rights,  is  the  unconstitutional 
clause  prohibiting  slavery  :  and  it  follows,  from  these  views,  that 
the  territorial  legislatures  possess  full  authority  over  all  the  con- 
cerns of  life ;  over  the  relations  of  husband  and  wife,  of  parent  and 
child,  of  guardian  and  ward,  and,  if  the  interposition  of  Congress 
is  unconstitutional,  over  the  relations  of  master  and  servant,  inclu- 
ding the  condition  of  slavery.  Hence,  then,  the  objection  we  have 
so  often  heard  repeated,  that  these  legislatures  cannot  act  upon 
this  subject,  because  Congress,  having  no  power  itself,  can  grant 
none  for  that  purpose,  is  destitute  of  any  real  foundation.  If,  in- 
deed, there  is  any  constitutional  prohibition,  director  fairly  implied, 
which  opposes  their  exercise  of  this  power,  then  of  course  it  is 
withheld  from  them.  As  that  question  is  not  in  my  way,  I  shall 
not  turn  aside  to  seek  it,  but  shall  content  myself  with  saying  that 
I  see  no  such  prohibition,  and  that  I  believe  the  people  of  the 
Territories  have  just  the  same  rights  in  this  respect  that  the  peo- 
ple of  the  States  have  ;  and  that  it  is  a  part  of  their  power  of 
legislation,  of  which  they  cannot  justly  be  deprived.  Let  him  who 
seeks  to  deprive  them  of  it  turn  to  our  great  charter,  and  put  his 
finger  upon  the  restriction. 

But,  sir,  I  may  well  appeal  to  those  who  find  in  the  Constitution, 
or  out  of  the  Constitution  this  power  to  control  the  Territories  by 
the  Wilmot  proviso,  whether  it  is  a  power  that  ought  to  be  exer- 
cised under  existing  circumstances. 

Here  is  one-half  of  a  great  country  which  believes  with  a  una- 
nimity perhaps  without  a  parallel  in  grave  national  questions,  that 
the  Constitution  has  delegated  to  Congress  no  such  power  what- 
ever. And  there  is  a  large  portion  of  the  other  half  which  enter- 
tains similar  views :  while  of  those  who  see  in  the  Constitution 
sufficient  grounds  for  legislative  action,  there  are  many  who  admit, 
indeed  probably  there  are  few  who  deny,  that  the  question  is  not 
free  from  serious  doubts. 

Besides  the  want  of  constitutional  power,  there  are  at  least  four- 
teen States  of  the  Union  which  see  in  this  measure  a  direct  attack 


LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS.  391 

upon  their  rights,  and  a  disregard  of  their  feelings  and  interests, 
as  injurious  in  itself  as  it  is  offensive  to  their  pride  of  character, 
and  incompatible  with  the  existence  of  those  bonds  of  amity  which 
are  stronger  than  constitutional  ties  to  hold  us  together.  No  man 
can  shut  his  eyes  to  the  excitement  which  prevails  there,  and  which 
is  borne  to  us  by  the  press  in  countless  articles  coming  from  legis- 
lative proceedings,  from  popular  assemblies,  and  from  all  the  sour- 
ces whence  public  opinion  is  derived,  and  be  insensible  to  the  evil 
day  that  is  upon  us.  I  believe  this  Union  will  survive  all  the  dan- 
gers with  which  it  may  be  menaced,  however  trying  the  circum- 
stances in  which  it  may  be  placed.  I  believe  it  is  not  destined  to 
perish  till  long  after  it  shall  have  fulfilled  the  great  mission  confi- 
ded to  it  of  example  and  encouragement  to  the  nations  of  the  earth 
who  are  struggling  with  the  despotism  of  centuries,  and  groping 
their  way  in  a  darkness  once  impenetrable,  but  where  the  light  of 
^knowledge  and  freedom  is  beginning  to  disperse  the  gloom.  But 
to  maintain  this  proud  position,  this  integrity  of  political  existence, 
on  which  so  much  for  us  and  for  the  world  depends,  we  must  care- 
fully avoid  those  sectional  questions  so  much  and  so  forcibly  depre- 
cated by  the  Father  of  his  Country,  and  cultivate  a  spirit  of  mutual 
regard,  adding  to  the  considerations  of  interest  which  hold  us  to- 
gether the  higher  motives  of  affection  and  of  affinity  of  views  and 
of  sympathies.  Sad  will  be  the  day  when  the  first  drop  of  blood 
is  shed  in  the  preservation  of  this  Union.  That  day  need  never 
come,  and  never  will  come,  if  the  same  spirit  of  compromise  and 
of  concession  by  each  to  the  feelings  of  all  which  animated  our 
fathers  continues  to  animate  us  and  our  children.  But  if  powers 
offensive  to  one  portion  of  the  country,  and  of  doubtful  obligation, 
to  say  the  least  of  it,  are  to  be  exercised  by  another,  and  under 
circumstances  of  peculiar  excitement,  this  Confederation  may  be 
rent  in  twain,  leaving  another  example  of  that  judical  blindness 
with  which  God  in  his  providence  sometimes  visits  the  sins  of  na- 
tions. » 

Now,  sir,  as  a  mere  practical  question,  is  the  legislative  adop- 
tion of  this  proviso  worth  the  hazard  at  which  it  alone  can  be  se- 
cured— the  obstacles  and  dangers  I  have  briefly  alluded  to?  There 
should  be  great  advantages,  inestimable  indeed,  to  be  gained  be- 
fore such  a  measure  is  forced  upon  the  country.  Can  any  man 
say  that  they  correspond  at  all  with  the  magnitude  of  the  evils 
which  must  follow  in  their  train  ? 

For  myself,  sir,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  slightest  good  will  re- 
sult, or  would  result,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  from 
this  Congressional  interference  with  the  rights  of  the  people  of 
the  Territories.  The  object  avowed  is  to  prevent  the  introduction 
of  slavery.  Can  it  go  there,  even  if  left  without  this  prohibition? 
I  believe  it  cannot ;  and  I  believe  there  are  very  few,  here  or  else- 
where, who  think  it  can. 

This  view  of  the  subject  I  had  occasion  to  announce  some  two 
years  since,  together  with  the  considerations,  political  and  gee- 


392  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

graphical,  which  led  to  the  opinion.  Time  and  experience  have 
come  to  confirm  all  that  was  then  anticipated,  though  certainly 
sooner  and  in  a  more  imposing  form  than  could  then  have,  been 
even  conjectured.  By  far  the  most  valuable  portion  of  our  Mexi- 
can acquisitions  has  organized  a  State  government,  and  will,  it  is 
understood,  soon  present  itself  for  admission,  with  a  fundamental 
prohibition  against  the  existence  of  slavery.  Looking  at  the  con- 
dition of  New  Mexico,  at  its  products,  its  geographical  position, 
the  character  of  its  inhabitants,  whether  natives  or  emigrants,  and 
to  the  legal  fact  that  slavery  is  now  excluded  from  all  that  region, 
I  think  the  most  zealous  advocate  of  this  prohibition  must  admit 
that  without  it  the  country  .is  as  sure  to  be  free  from  slavery  as 
with  it.  For  myself,  I  do  not  believe  that  if  you  were  to  pass  a 
law  establishing  slavery  in  the  Santa  Fe  country,  or  in  Deseret,  to 
adopt  the  new  nomenclature,  it  would  ever  go  there.  More  pow- 
erful considerations  than  your  legislative  action  would  control  this 
question — considerations  of  profit,  arising  out  of  products  which 
can  alone  render  this  kind  of  labor  valuable,  and  which  is  sure  to 
arrest  it,  in  the  cotton-growing  and  sugar-making  regions,  instead 
of  permitting  its  emigration  to  higher  latitudes,  whose  products 
require  less  labor,  and  by  their  distance  from  market  must  always 
be  cheap  and  abundant. 

I  refer  to  these  circumstances,  not  as  influencing  my  own  ac- 
tion, for  with  rny  views  of  the  constitutional  defect  of  power,  I  am 
precluded  from  entering  into  any  other  considerations ;  but  as  ap- 
pealing to  those  who,  finding  the  necessary  authority,  seek  to  ex- 
ert it,  in  order  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the  new 
acquisitions.  Nor  have  we  any  right  to  anticipate  that  this  view, 
however  correct  it  may  be,  will  reconcile  the  South  to  abandon 
their  objection  to  this  measure.  All  experience  shows  that  a  con- 
troversy like  this,  which  has  reached  its  present  condition,  under 
circumstances  so  imposing,  where  great  questions  of  right  and  of 
feeling  are  involved,  is  maintained  without  reference  to  its  utilita- 
rian result.  And  there  is  no  better  illustration  of  this  truth  than 
the  history  of  our  own  revolutionary  struggle  presents ;  where  the 
principle  itself,  far  more  than  its  immediate' practical  application, 
roused  a  continent  to  arms. 

The  Wilmot  proviso  is  urged  upon  the  ground  of  its  expedien- 
cy. It  is  opposed  upon  the  ground  of  its  unconstitutionality. 
Those  who  urge  it  may  well  abandon  it,  when  circumstances  show 
that  the  measure  is  dangerous  in  itself,  or  profitless  in  its  result. 
Those  who  oppose  it  cannot  change  their  conviction  of  right,  and 
that  portion  of  the  Union  which  considers  itself  peculiarly  affected 
by  it  will  not  change  the  conviction  that  its  feelings  and  interests 
will  be  sacrificed  in  violation  of  the  great  compact  which  makes 
us  one  political  family. 

Now,  sir,  I  repeat,  is  the  contest  worth  the  cost?  To  pi  ace  this 
barren,  and,  as  I  believe,  unconstitutional  proviso  on  the  statute- 
book — is  that  a  recompense  for  the  wounds  that  would  be  inflicted. 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  393 

and  the  feelings  that  would  be  excited,  whose  disastrous  effects  no 
right-minded  man  can  contemplate  without  the  most  serious  ap- 
prehension ?  The  oldest  among  us  may  live  to  see  their  commence- 
ment, the  youngest  may  not  live  to  see  their  termination.  For  my- 
self, I  will  take  part  in  no  such  effort.  I  will  minister  to  no  such 
feeling.  I  will  engage  in  no  such  crusade  against  the  South,  from 
whatever  motives  it  originates.  I  will  endeavor  to  discharge  my 
duty  as  an  American  Senator,  to  the  country  and  to  the  whole 
country,  agreeably  to  the  conviction  of  my  own  duty  and  of  the 
obligations  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  when  I  cannot  do  this,  I  shall 
cease  to  have  any  duty  here  to  perform.  My  sentiments  upon  the 
Wilmot  proviso  are  now  before  the  Senate,  and  will  soon  be  before 
my  constituents  and  the  country.  I  am  precluded  from  voting  in 
conformity  with  them.  I  have  been  instructed  by  the  Legislature 
of  Michigan  to  vote  in  favor  of  this  measure.  I  am  a  believer  in 
the  right  of  instruction,  when  fairly  exercised  and  under  proper 
circumstances.  There  are  limitations  upon  this  exercise ;  but  1 
need  not  seek  to  ascertain  their  extent  or  application,  for  they  do 
not  concern  my  present  position.  I  acknowledge  the  obligation 
of  the  instructions  I  have  received,  and  cannot  act  in  opposition  to 
them.  Nor  can  I  act  in  opposition  to  my  own  convictions  of  the 
true  meaning  of  the  Constitution.  When  the  time  comes,  and  I 
am  required  to  vote  upon  this  measure,  as  a  practical  one,  in  a  bill 
providing  for  a  territorial  government,  I  shall  know  how  to  recon- 
cile my  duty  to  the  Legislature  with  my  duty  to  myself,  by  surren- 
dering a  trust  I  can  no  longer  fulfill. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  Mr.  Foote  moved  the  Senate  that  his 
resolution  should  be  referred  to  a  committee  of  six  members  from 
the  north,  and  six  members  from  the  south,  and  one  to  be  by 
them  chosen,  with  instructions  to  exert  themselves  for  the  purpose 
of  maturing  a  scheme  of  compromise  for  the  adjustment  of  all 
the  pending  questions  growing  out  of  the  institution  of  slavery, 
and  to  report  by  bill  or  otherwise.  Gen.  Cass  supported  this  reso- 
lution, and  also  the  subsequent  proposition  to  refer  the  resolutions 
of  Messrs.  Clay  and  Bell  to  a  like  committee.  He  viewed  the 
course  proposed  by  Mr.  Foote  as  offering  one  more  opportunity  of 
terminating  the  fearful  controversy.  He  declared  that  he  would 
vote  for  any  measure  that  had  the  appearance  of  bringing  the 
country  into  harmony  upon  the  distracting  subject  of  slavery.  The 
question  of  reference  was  put  to  a  vote  on  the  l&th  of  April,  and 
carried  by  a  vote  of  thirty  to  twenty-two. 

The  committee  to  which  this  reference  was  made,  was  chosen 
by  the  Senate  by  ballot,  and  consisted  of  Messrs.  Clay,  Cass,  Dick- 
inson, Bright,  Webster,  Phelps,  Cooper,  King,  Mason.  Downs, 


394  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

Mangurn,  Bell,  and  Berrien.  On  the  8th  of  May,  the  committee, 
by  their  chairman,  made  their  report  to  the  Senate,  accompanying 
it  with  bills  in  accordance  with  their  report. 

The  views  and  recommendations  of  the  committee  were  in  sub- 
stance— First :  That  the  admission  of  any  new  State  or  States, 
formed  out  of  Texas,  should  be  postponed  until  they  present  them- 
selves for  admission.  Second  :  That  California  should  be  admit- 
ted forthwith,  with  the  boundaries  she  had  proposed.  Third : 
That  territorial  governments,  without  the  Wilmot  proviso,  should 
be  provided  for  New  Mexico  and  Utah,  embracing  all  the  territory 
acquired  from  Mexico,  except  that  embraced  within  the  bounda- 
ries of  California.  Fourth  :  The  establishment  of  the  northern 
and  western  boundary  of  Texas,  and  the  exclusion  from  her  juris- 
diction of  all  New  Mexico,  for  which  a  pecuniary  equivalent  was 
to  be  paid.  Fifth  :  More  effectual  enactments  of  law  to  secure 
the  prompt  recapture  of  fugitives  from  labor,  bound  to  service  in 
one  State,  who  may  have  escaped  into  another  State.  Sixth : 
That  Congress  should  abstain  from  abolishing  slavery  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  but  should  prohibit  the  slave  trade  within  the 
District.  The  committee  also  proposed  that  the  second,  third  and 
fourth  measures  should  be  contained  in  the  same  bill. 

The  bill  providing  for  the  admission  of  California,  the  establish- 
ment of  territorial  governments  for  Utah  and  New  Mexico,  and 
making  proposals  to  Texas  in  regard  to  her  boundaries,  elicited 
much  and  able  discussion  for  and  against  it.  The  union  of  so 
many  subjects  in  one  bill,  created  objections  against  it  in  the  minds 
of  some,  who,  otherwise,  would  doubtless  have  supported  it :  nor 
did  its  provisions  entirely  accord  with  the  views  of  even  those 
most  disposed  to  support  any  reasonable  measure  calculated  to  heal 
the  differences  existing,  and  soften  the  asperities  of  sectional  feel- 
ing; much  less  did  it  harmonize  with  the  designs  of  the  ultraists 
of  north  or  south.  A  great  number  of  amendments  were  offered, 
conforming  the  bill  to  the  views  of  those  who  offered  them.  Pro- 
positions, increasing  the  conditions  upon  which  California  might 
be  admitted,  and  restricting  the  powers  of  territorial  governments, 
were  offered.  These  Gen.  Cass  opposed,  as  well  as  the  clause  in 
the  bill  itself  restricting  those  powers.  He  had  assumed  and  ever 
maintained  that  the  people  living  in  territories,  possessed  the  right 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  395 

to  regulate  their  internal  concerns  in  their  own  way,  subject  of 
course  to  the  limitations  of  the  constitution.  Upon  the  right  of 
Congress  to  establish  territorial  governments,  Gen  Cass  reiterated 
his  opinions  as  set  forth  in  the  "Nicholson"  letter.  He  argued 
that  there  was  no  express  authority  conferred  upon  Congress,  by 
the  constitution,  to  establish  and  regulate  territorial  governments. 
The  absence  of  such  grant  was,  because  no  contingency  was  fore- 
seen by  the  framers  of  the  constitution  for  the  use  of  such  power. 
The  right  to  act  at  all,  arises  from  the  necessity  of  the  case.  Up- 
on the  acquisition  of  new  territory,  it  is  the  moral  duty  of  a  coun- 
try to  take  care  that  it  is  provided  with  a  government  suitable  to 
its  own  institutions ;  the  exercise  of  this  power  is  only  justified  by 
necessity. 

The  opinion  of  Gen.  Cass  on  this  branch  of  congressional  pow- 
er, was,  during  the  debate  on  the  compromise  bill,  the  subject  of 
reference  by  most  of  the  distinguished  men  who  were  opposed  to 
his  position.  In  reply  to  an  allusion  made  to  his  doctrines,  by  Mr. 
Berrien  of  Georgia,  at  a  later  period  in  the  debate,  Gen.  Cass  fur- 
ther defended  his  opinion  in  a  short  and  powerful  speech  of  unan- 
swerable argument  A  brief  extract  is  here  inserted. 

"  MR.  PRESIDENT  :  The  Senator  from  Georgia,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  his  remarks,  made  an  allusion  to  the  doctrine  I  have  main- 
tained in  relation  to  the  general  power  of  Congress  over  the  terri- 
tories. I  rise  to  put  myself  right — not  to  defend  others  from  the 
charge  implied  in  the  assertion,  that  I  am  the  only  man  in  the 
Senate,  and  almost  the  only  citizen  out  of  it,  who  does  not  believe 
that  this  Government  has  full  and  unlimited  power  over  these  ter- 
ritories ;  though  I  trust  there  are  many,  both  here  and  elsewhere, 
who  have  not  so  far  forgotten  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  as  to  ac- 
quiesce in  such  a  monstrous  assumption  of  arbitrary  power.  Why, 
it  is  the  very  doctrine,  and  almost  the  very  words,  of  the  declara- 
tory act  of  George  III,  which  our  fathers  resisted  successfully* — 
first  in  argument,  and  then  in  arms — that  HIS  MAJESTY  IN  PAR- 
LIAMENT HAS  THE  RIGHT,  BY  STATUTE,  TO  BIND  THE  COLONIES  IN 

ALL  CASES  WHATSOEVER,  We  went  to  war  against  this  very  as- 
sumption, invoking  the  great  right  of  self-government,  and  hallow- 
ed the  principle  we  fought  for  by  success,  and  made  it  the  very 
corner-stone  of  our  institutions.  And  now,  before  all  the  genera- 
tion of  the  men  of  the  Revolution  has  passed  away,  we  are  called 
upon  to  declare  that  our  majesty  (this  government)  in  Congress 
has  the  right,  by  statute,  to  bind  the  Territories  in  all  cases  what- 
soever. AnJI  am  rather  pointed  at  as  a  marked  man,  and  as  al- 
most the  only  one,  who,  in  this  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century, 


396  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

and  in  this  republican  land,  does  not  bow  the  knee  to  this  political 
worship.  I  trust — I  am  sure,  indeed — that  the  Senator  entirely 
misunderstands  the  sentiments  of  his  countrymen,  and  that  there 
is  not  a  mere  remnant,  but  a  vast  majority,  who  repudiate  such 
pretensions,  and  who  believe  that  internal  legislation,  without  rep- 
resentation or  natural  affinity,  is  the  very  essence  of  arbitrary 
power.  And  a  tremendous  power  it  is.  It  is  claimed  and  exer- 
cised at  St.  Petersburg,  at  Vienna,  and  at  Constantinople,  as  well 
as  at  Washington ;  and  no  matter  by  whom  claimed,  or  where  ex- 
ercised— whether  by  Sultan,  Emperor,  King,  Parliament,  or  Con- 
gress— it  is  equally  despotism,  unsupported  by  the  laws  of  God, 
or  by  the  just  laws  of  man.  Whence  do  you  derive  such  a  pow- 
er? Put  your  finger  upon  a  single  clause  or  word  of  the  Consti- 
tution, if  you  can,  which  gives  it  to  you.  Such  a  terrible  means 
of  oppression  should  not  rest  on  shadowy  implications,  or  remote 
analogies,  or  on  elementary  words,  employed  by  European  writers. 
It  should  have  a  visible,  tangible  foundation.  It  should  be  written 
in  characters  of  living  light,  that  the  oppressor  and  the  oppressed 
may  not  be  deceived  as  to  the  power  of  the  one,  or  the  degrada- 
tion of  the  other.  And  yet  among  the  fifteen  reasons  given  for 
the  exercise  of  this  authority,  there  is  not  one,  which,  by  any  ra- 
tional construction,  leads  to  such  consequences.  Fifteen  reasons 
for  the  support  of  a  power,  which  half  that  number  of  words  would 
have  conferred  beyond  cavil  or  dispute !  That  very  fact  is  enough 
to  destroy  the  pretension.  Congress  shall  have  unlimited  power 
over  the  Territories.  This  short  and  explicit  clause  would  have 
spared  us  many  an  argument,  even  if  it  had  not  spared  the  rights 
of  man.  Instead  of  such  a  declaration,  what  is  the  fact?  The 
Senator  from  Georgia  says,  that  Congress  is  sovereign.  This  I 
utterly  deny.  Congress  is  vested  with  no  attribute  of  sovereignty, 
as  the  foundation  of  legislative  power,  nor  is  the  word  itself  to  be 
found  in  the  Constitution.  It  is  perfectly  idle  to  go  to  Vattel,  or 
to  the  earlier  or  later  writers  upon  the  laws  of  nations,  to  seek 
there  the  attributes  of  sovereignty,  or  to  assume,  as  their  conse- 
quence, the  existence  of  power  in  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  The  people  of  the  respective  States  are  the  true  sove- 
reigns of  this  country,  and  they  possess  all  the  rights,  which,  by 
the  usage  of  nations,  belong  to  that  condition.  You  may  go  to 
the  elementary  writers  to  find  what  these  rights  are,  but  you  must 
go  to  the  Constitution  to  find  how,  and  how  far,  their  exercise  has 
been  confided  to  any  department  of  the  Government.  If  you  find 
this  delegation,  you  may  act ;  if  not,  the  people  have  reserved  the 
power  to  themselves.  You  can  declare  war  ;  this  is  one  of  the 
most  important  attributes  of  sovereignty.  But  you  do  not  go  to 
Grotius,  or  Paffendorf,  or  Vattel,  for  the  foundation  of  your  ac- 
tion ;  that  you  seek  in  the  great  deed  of  the  American  people. 
And  if  it  were  not  there,  you  would  be  just  as  powerless  to  de- 
clare war,  as  you  are  to  choose  a  king.  Ours  is  a  government  of 
limited  powers  and  of  strict  construction ;  and  yet  we  so  easily 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  397 

depart  from  first  principles,  that  here  is  a  strenuous  effort  to  clothe 
this  delegated  legislature  with  sovereign  power,  because  sovereign- 
ty is  an  essential  condition  of  an  independent  people." 

Upon  the  general  merits  of  the  report  and  bill  of  the  committee 
General  Cass  addressed  the  Senate  at  length  on  the  llth  of  June, 
1850.  His  speech  is  replete  with  argument  and  illustration,  and 
must  convince  every  reader,  that  the  course  adopted  by  him  on  this 
great  and  eventful  question,  was  dictated  by  the  purest  patriotism 
and  most  ardent  attachment  to  his  country,  and  her  institutions, 
and  a  controling  desire  to  preserve  uninjured  at  all  sacrifices,  the 
glorious  union  of  the  states.  Like  most  of  the  speeches  of  Gen. 
Cass,  it  contains  a  history  of  the  subject  to  which  it  has  reference, 
and  though  every  reader  of  it  may  be  unable  to  acquiesce  in  all  its 
sentiments,  he  cannot  fail  to  be  instructed  and  enlightened  by  its 
perusal. 

The  consideration  of  the  bill  was  further  continued  in  the  Sen- 
ate. On  the  31st  of  July,  Mr.  Pearc,e  of  Maryland,  moved  to  strike 
from  the  bill  all  that  related  to  New  Mexico.  This  was  agreed  to 
by  the  Senate.  Mr.  Walker  of  Wisconsin,  had  previously  moved 
to  strike  from  the  bill  all  except  that  part  relating  to  California, 
but  the  motion  was  unsuccessful.  Mr.  Atchison  of  Missouri,  who 
was  pleased  with  only  part  of  the  bill,  that  providing  a  territorial 
government  for  Utah,  moved  on  the  31st  July,  to  strike  from  it, 
the  provisions  relating  to  California,  and  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of 
thirty-four  to  twenty-five  agreed  to  the  motion.  The  bill  was  thus 
left  containing  simply  the  provision  of  a  territorial  government  for 
Utah,  and  in  that  shape  passed  the  Senate  on  the  second  of  Au- 
gust ensuing.  The  other  subjects  embraced  in  the  bill  reported 
by  the  committee,  viz  :  the  admission  of  California,  the  establish- 
ment of  a  government  for  New  Mexico,  and  the  proposals  for  the 
establishment  of  the  boundaries  of  Texas,  were  subsequently  pass- 
ed by  the  Senate  in  separate  bills.  The  admission  of  California 
was  opposed  by  some  of  the  most  eminent  Southern  Senators. 
The  action  of  the  people  in  forming  a  constitution  was  assumed  to 
be  unauthorized,  and  that  the  assent  of  Congress  to  their  proceed- 
ings by  admitting  California  into  the  Union,  would  be  unconstitu- 
tional. Mr.  Berrien  of  Georgia,  in  opposition  to  the  act  of  admis- 
sion, argued  that  the  people  of  California  had  no  right  to  organize 
themselves  into  a  state  government — that  the  proceeding  was  en- 


398  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

tirely  without  precedent.  The  fallacy  of  this  argument  was  ex- 
posed by  Gen.  Cass  in  a  masterly  speech  from  which  the  following 
extract  is  taken  : 

The  Senator  from  Georgia  has  said,  that  the  people  of  Califor- 
nia had  no  right  to  organize  themselves  into  a  State  Government, 
and  that  there  is  no  instance  of  such  a  proceeding  in  the  history  of 
our  territorial  establishments.  So  far  as  respects  the  creation  of 
a  State  government  and  the  application  for  admission  into  the 
Union,  independent  of  the  action  of  Congress,  there  are  several 
such  cases  in  our  political  annals.  So  far  as  respects  the  organi- 
zation of  a  political  system  itself,  the  creation  of  a  government,  no 
such  precedent  indeed  exists  ;  for  never  before  did  Congress  utter- 
ly neglect  its  duty,  and  leave  a  new  and  remote  acquisition  without 
organization,  exposed  to  all  the  evils  of  anarchy,  and  to  be  saved 
only  by  their  own  wisdom  and  firmness.  Here  is  where  all  paral- 
lel and  precedent  cease ;  nor  do  I  believe  there  is  another  country 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  where  such  legislative  neglect  of  great  in- 
terests can  be  found.  And  are  we  to  be  conducted  through  some 
politico-metaphysical  process  of  reasoning,  and  asked  to  prove, 
step  by  step,  the  right  of  700,000  American  citizens  to  provide  for 
their  own  social  existence,  and  to  apply  for  admission  into  this 
Union,  as  you  would  require  proof  to  establish  the  ownership  of  a 
home  ?  No,  sir,  there  are  far  higher  considerations  than  these  in- 
volved in  such  a  relation,  and  which  appeal  at  once  to  the  head 
and  heart  of  every  American.  .  The  Senator  has  himself  said,  that 
these  people  were  justified  in  forming  a  government,  but  that  they 
should  have  formed  a  territorial  and  not  a  State  government. 
Well,  sir,  this  concession  is  worth  something;  for  it  admits  the 
validity  of  their  political  organization,  and  their  right  to  frame 
laws  and  to  administer  them.  And  what  reason  does  the  Senator 
urge  why  the  political  action  of  the  people  should  have  been  con- 
fined to  one  of  these  forms  of  organization,  and  not  extended  to 
the  other  ?  There  is,  of  course,  no  legal  or  constitutional  restraint, 
and  whatever  may  exist  must  be  imposed  by  some  overruling  prin- 
ciple, deduced  from  our  institutions.  The  people,  says  the  Sena- 
tor, in  forming  a  government,  had  no  right  to  go  further  than  the 
actual  necessity  required,  and  should  have  contented  themselves 
with  the  smallest  possible  modicum  of  freedom.  I  can  understand 
why  a  government,  exercising  delegated  and  limited  powers,  should 
be  limited  in  their  exercise  by  the  necessity,  which  calls  them  into 
action.  But  what  principle  of  human  right  or  human  reason  re- 
quires a  people,  necessarily  called  to  institute  a  government,  to 
content  themselves  with  the  least  possible  degree  of  liberty,  com- 
patible with  the  actual  peace  of  society,  I  confess  my  utter  inabi- 
lity to  discern.  The  rights  are  their  own,  not  ours  ;  and  if  we 
compel  thenvto  act,  they  must  judge  what  their  interest  requires. 
I  do  not  contend  that  they  have  an  actual  claim  to  admission  into 
the  Union.  I  do  not  deny  that  it  is  our  right  and  our  duty  to  look 


* 

LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS.  399 

to  their  circumstances,  and  to  receive  or  reject  them,  as  their  num- 
bers and  condition  may  justify.  If  the  number  or  condition  of  the 
people  of  California  is  not  such  as  to  justify  their  admission,  let  it 
be  shown,  and  let  their  application  be  refused.  But  I  do  deny, 
that  the  nature  of  their  political  organization,  brought  about  by  our 
neglect,  furnishes  any  valid  reason  for  excluding  them  from  this 
great  Confederacy,  into  which  they  are  so  desirous  to  enter.  But, 
after  all,  what  could  they  have  done,  but  precisely  what  they  did  1 
They  had  to  organize  a  government ;  that  the  Senator  from  Geor- 
gia admits.  And  how  were  they  to  organize  a  Territorial  Govern- 
ment, which  necessarily,  ex  vi  termini,  derives  its  powers  from  the 
United  States  ?  That  is  the  very  essence  of  its  existence,  and  that 
existence,  it  could  only  acquire  by  an  act  of  Congress;  and 
because  Congress  would  not  pass  any  act  upon  the  subject,  was 
precisely  the  justification  for  the  proceeding.  How  were  they  to 
possess  a  Territorial  Governor  or  Judges,  or  to  be  placed  under 
the  control  of  the  Federal  judiciary  by  their  own  act  ?  And  with- 
out these  bonds  of  connexion,  and  others  like  them,  how  was  their 
Government  to  become  a  Territorial  one  ?  It  could  not  be,  sir — 
it  could  not  be.  Their  de  facto  government  was  necessarily  de- 
rived from  themselves,  and  depended  on  themselves  ;  their  relation 
must  be  denned  by  the  action  of  Congress  ;  and,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, can  it  be  seriously  contended,  that  they  had  no  right 
to  come  here  and  ask  admission  into  the  Union,  and  that  we  ought 
to  reject  them  because  they  had  not  a  Territorial  Government  ? 
Why,  sir,  this  is  no  way  to  deal  with  human  rights.  You  cannot 
stand  up  before  the  people  of  this  country  and  maintain  such  a  po- 
sition. }You  are  at  war  with  those  everlasting  principles  of  human 
nature  and  human  freedom,  which  no  power  can  destroy,  and  which, 
when  taken  from  a  people,  are  taken  by  force  and  not  by  right. 

The  Senator  from  Georgia  says  it  is  true  there  have  been  delay 
and  neglect  in  the  organization  of  a  government  for  the  people  of 
California,  but  that  this  has  been  owing  not  to  her,  but  to  you,  and 
you,  members  of  this  body.  And  pray,  Mr.  President,  what  has 
this  to  do  with  the  practical  effect  of  congressional  inaction  1  We 
are  not  inquiring  into  the  causes  of  the  dissension  among  Senators 
and  Representatives,  which  have  produced  this  unhappy  result, 
but  into  the  present  condition  of  things,  and  into  the  effect,  which 
this  neglect  has  produced  upon  our  Mexican  acquisitions.  We 
are,  or  should  be,  looking  to  the  just  claims  of  California,  and  not 
to  any  retrospect  of  our  own  errors.  The  Senator  says  that  those 
associated  with  him  in  his  views  were  anxious  to  establish  govern- 
ments, but  that  their  efforts  were  not  excepted.  Well,  sir,  this  is 
just  what  members  opposed  to  his  views  say  in  return  :  You  are 
to  blame  for  this  state  of  things,  for  you  would  not  accept  the  of- 
fers we  made  of  co-operation.  I  need  hardly  say,  my  views  coin- 
cide with  those  of  the  Senator  from  Georgia,  upon  the  object  of 
the  Wilmot  proviso ;  but  still  I  do  not  shut  my  eyes  to  the  fact, 
that  in  the  consideration  of  the  claims  of  California,  mutual  recrim- 


400  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

inatioQ  here  conduces  neither  to  our  own  harmony,  nor  to  her  in- 
terest. If  we  should  go  on  in  this  way  till  doomsday,  our  labors 
would  be  as  barren,  as  they  have  been  thus  far  during  the  session. 
The  true  question  is,  what  we  ought  to  do — not  what  we  have  left 
undone,  and  why  we  have  thus  left  it.  The  Senator  denies  that 
California  is  a  State ;  while,  for  my  part,  I  consider  her  as  truly  a 
State  as  any  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  Senator  from  Maine, 
(Mr.  HAMLIN,)  some  time  since,  recalled  a  remark  upon  this  sub- 
ject, which  leaves  no  other  answer  to  be  desired.  He  said  it  was 
men  that  made  states — and  it  is  so  ;  not  trees,  nor  lands,  nor  gold 
mines,  but  men,  for  whose  use  all  these  objects  were  created. 
And  cs  to  entering  into  the  metaphysics  of  this  matter,  and  into 
the  solution  of  all  the  nice  questions,  which  ingenuity  may  raise, 
respecting  the  transition  of  a  community  from  one  political  con- 
dition to  another,  and  the  precise  moment — ten  minutes  after 
twelve  o'clock,  for  instance — when  its  chrysalis  state  terminates, 
and  its  transformation  is  complete,  let  him  pursue  these  investiga- 
tions, who  has  a  taste  for  them — I  have  none.  For  one,  I  shall 
deal  with  the  principles  of  our  own  institutions,  and  with  the  rights 
of  human  nature  in  their  plain,  direct  application  to  the  condition 
of  American  society,  wherever  it  may  be.  And  doing  so  in  this 
instance,  I  find  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  neglected 
one  of  its  most  imperative  and  important  duties — the  institution  of 
a  government  for  California;  and  having  driven  the  people  to  do 
for  themselves  what  we  ought  to  have  done  for  them,  we  have  now 
no  right  to  condemn  their  course  and  refuse  their  application, 
because  they  did  not  establish  a  territorial  government,  which  alone 
could  be  established  by  the  authority  of  Congress. 

The  bill  "  to  provide  for  the  more  effectual  execution  of  the  third 
clause  of  the  second  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,"  generally  known  as  the  "  fugitive  slave" 
bill,  was  taken  up  in  the  Senate,  August  nineteenth.  As  one  of 
the  measures  of  compromise  calculated  to  restore  harmony  and 
good  feeling,  Gen.  Cass  supported  the  bill.  The  bill  under  con- 
sideration was  one  introduced  in  January  preceding  by  Mr.  Mason 
of  Virginia,  and  amendments  had  been  recommended  by  the  com- 
mittee on  the  judiciary  and  by  the  select  committee  of  thirteen. 
The  mover  of  the  original  bill  offered  a  substitute  for  it,  to  which 
various  amendments  were  offered  and  debated.  The  bill  being 
finally  perfected  had  its  third  reading  and  passed  the  Senate  on  the 
24th  of  August.  In  supporting  this  measure  Gen.  Cass  urged  that 
it  should  conform  to  the  main  features  of  the  act  of  1793,  upon  the 
same  subject,  and  that  the  changes  which  experience  had  shown 
to  be  necessary  should  be  introduced  by  way  of  amendment  to  the 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  .    i        401 

law  of  1793.  The  principles  sustained  by  Gen.  Cass,  were  :  First — 
the  right  of  the  master  to  arrest  his  fugitive  slave  wherever  he  may 
find  him.  Second — His  duty  to  carry  him  before  a  magistrate  in 
the  State  where  he  is  arrested,  that  the  claim  may  be  adjudged  by 
him.  Third — the  duty  of  the  magistrate  to  examine  the  claim,  and 
to  decide  upoii  it  like  other  examining  magistrates,  without  a  jury, 
and  then  to  commit  him  to  the  custody  of  the  master.  Fourth — 
The  right  of  the  master  then  to  remove  the  slave  to  his  residence. 

The  last  of  the  measures  known  as  the  "  peace  measures  " — the 
bill  abolishing  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia — pas- 
sed the  Senate  on  the  16th  of  September.  The  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives concurred  in  regard  to  all  these  several  bills  and  passed 
them. 

The  most  beneficial  results  were  anticipated  from  the  action  of 
Congress.  It  was  hoped,  and  appearances  seemed  to  justify  it, 
that  conciliatory  measures,  advised  by  the  great  statesmen  of  both 
parties,  would  have  an  immediate  effect  in  quieting  agitation, 
and  calming  the  public  mind  to  an  acquiescence  in  the  comprom- 
ise measures  of  Congress.  But,  the  adjournment  of  Congress  was 
followed  by  increased  excitement  and  more  earnest  and  bitter  dis- 
cussion among  the  people  and  the  public  presses.  The  several 
"peace  measures"  formed  themes  for  angry  dispute,  particularly 
the  fugitive  slave  law,  which,  while  it  was  denounced  by  northern 
ultraists  as  conceding  too  much  to  the  claims  of  the  south,  was  re- 
ected,  by  the  southern  secessionists,  as  worthless.  Yet  it  is  im- 
possible to  believe  otherwise,  than  that  the  course  adopted  was  the 
best  that  could  be  devised.  For  it  may  well  be  asked,  where  could 
we  look  for  counsel,  if  not  to  those  very  men,  who  had  the  matter 
in  charge?  If  Clay,  Webster,  Cass,  Douglass,  and  their  co-labor- 
ers, for  union  and  harmony,  could  not  bring  forward  measures  ad- 
equate to  the  exigency,  we  might  well  despair  of  ever  having  the 
controversy  settled.  Except  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  public 
sentiment,  in  the  southern  States,  was  nearly  equally  divided  up- 
on the  compromise  measures,  and  there  is  ground  for  hope  that 
both  at  the  north  and  south,  time  and  more  deliberate  reflection 
will  satisfy  all,  that  by  those  measures,  the  rights  of  every  section 
of  the  Union  have  been  respected,  and  a  basis  formed,  upon  which 

may  be  safely  and  securely  built  the  hopes  of  the  patriot — for  the 

26 


402  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

perpetuation  of  the  Union.  To  those  men  who,  at  this  crisis,  stood 
by  their  country,  what  a  debt  of  gratitude  and  esteem  is  due. 
Their  names  will  be  cherished  and  their  memories  revered  as  the 
saviors  of  their  country.  And,  how  can  a  grateful  people  ever  for- 
get the  labors  of  Lewis  Cass,  in  that  moment  of  tremendous  excite- 
ment, when  upholding  the  banner  of  his  country,  with  that  glori- 
ous motto  inscribed  upon  it,  "  Our  whole  country — no  sectional 
differences,"  he  stood,  calm  and  undisturbed,  in  the  Council  Hall 
of  the  nation,  amid  the  storm  and  tempest  of  intense  excitement — 
beating  back  the  furious  winds  of  disunion  and  civil  war,  and  the 
sirocco  blasts  of  infatuation  and  fanaticism.  The  full  value  of  his 
services  could  only  be  realized  through  the  direful  experience  of 
what  might  have  been,  had  he  not  stood  the  unconquerable  protect- 
or of  his  country — the  contrast  between  our  happy  country,  as  she 
now  is,  and  what  she  would  be,  were  we  looking  on  "  the  broken 
and  dishonored  fragments  of  a  once  glorious  Union  ;  on  States  dis- 
severed, discordant,  belligerent;  on  a  land,  rent  with  civil  feuds, 
and  drenched  in  fraternal  blood !" 

Not  only  in  his  place  in  the  Senate,  has  Gen.  Cass  labored  to 
preserve  intact  the  integrity  of  the  Union  and  unwavering  obedi- 
ence to  the  constitution,  but  among  his  fellow  citizens,  at  public 
meetings,  he  has  urged  the  duty  incumbent  upon  every  true  patri- 
ot. At  the  public  reception,  tendered  by  the  citizens  of  New- York, 
to  himself  and  other  distinguished  members  of  Congress,  in  No- 
yember,  1850,  he  addressed  the  assemblage  upon  the  exciting  top- 
ics that  agitate  the  country.  Adverting  to  the  progress  of  the  com- 
promise measures,  through  Congress,  the  sacrifices  made  by  all,  to 
ensure  their  adoption,  the  setting  aside  political  differences  to  ac- 
complish the  one  great  object,  he  remarked  : — 

"  And  where,  in  the  long  annals  of  mankind,  do  we  find  a  peo" 
pie  so  highly  favored  as  we  are  at  this  moment,  when  we  seem  to 
be  struck  with  judicial  blindness — almost  ready,  I  may  say,  in  the 
language  of  Scripture,  to  rush  upon  the  thick  bosses  of  Jehovah's 
buckler  ?  The  sun  never  shone  upon  a  country  as  free  and  so 
prosperous  as  this,  where  human  freedom  finds  less  oppression,  the 
human  intellect  less  restraint,  or  human  industry  less  opposition. 
And  what  overpowering  object  is  before  us,  which  would  justify 
the  sacrifice  of  all  these  blessings?  Why  is  one  section  of  the 
country  arrayed  against  another,  and  why  are  men  found  in  it  who 
are  both  ready  to  sever  our  constitutional  ties  by  the  sword,  and  to 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  403 

commit  the  future  of  this  great  republic  to  those  dissensions  whose 
consequences  no  man  can  foresee?  Is  there  any  advantage  which 
disunion  would  make  greater  ?  Is  there  any  evil  it  would  make 
lighter  ?  Any  security  for  the  present,  or  hope  for  the  future, 
which  would  be  increased  by  separation  1  None,  none.  I  repeat, 
then,  whence  this  agitation,  this  alarm,  these  excited  feelings,  these 
hard  thoughts,  which  are  spoken  in  hard  words,  and  are  fast  lead- 
ing to  hard  deeds?  Why  is  it  that  the  series  of  measures  adopted 
at  the  last  session  of  Congress,  reasonable  and  equitable,  under 
the  circumstances,  and  approved  by  a  large  majority  of  the  commu- 
nity, why  is  it  that  these  have  failed  to  calm  the  excitement,  and 
to  restore  harmony  and  tranquility  to  the  country?  These  various 
acts  formed  parts  of  one  plan  of  compromise,  and  should  be  regard 
ed  as  pledging  the  faith  of  every  portion  of  the  country  to  their 
faithful  observance,  and  if  they  are  so,  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  we 
may  speedily  look  forward  to  that  good  old  fraternal  feeling,  which 
brought  us  together,  and  which  alone  can  keep  us  together.  But, 
unfortunately,  the  public  mind  in  the  North  has  been  much  excited 
by  the  passage  of  one  of  those  laws,  that  for  carrying  into  effect 
the  provisions  of  the  constitution  on  the  subject  of  fugitive  slaves, 
and  it  has  been  misquoted  and  misrepresented  with  such  a  bold- 
ness of  perversion,  unknown  before  in  our  political  controversies, 
that  its  repeal  is  loudly  called  for  in  one  portion  of  the  country, 
and  feared,  if  not  anticipated,  in  another.  For  myself,  I  believe 
the  repeal  of  that  law  would  dissolve  this  confederation,  as  certainly 
as  the  morrow's  sun  will  rise  upon  it.  I  believe  the  South  would 
consider  it  a  dereliction  of  constitutional  duty,  which  would  leave 
inoperative  a  great  constitutional  obligation,  and  a  gross  violation 
of  political  faith,  which  would  destroy  all  confidence  for  the  future, 
and  that  they  would  seek  their  remedy  by  assuming  an  independ- 
ent station  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  And  believing  this,  I 
for  one  shall  oppose  its  repeal. 

I  am  among  those  who  acknowledge  the  stability  of  the  consti- 
tutional obligation  to  surrender  fugitives  from  justice,  and  fugitives 
from  labor.  I  am  among  those  who  believe  that  the  constitution  is 
a  law  high  enough  for  American  citizens,  in  the  regulation  of  their 
civil  rights  and  duties,  subject  to  the  exposition  of  the  proper  tri- 
bunals. And  I  am  satisfied  that  the  act  of  1793,  on  the  subject  of 
fugitive  slaves,  as  I  have  already  taken  occasion  to  say  in  the  Sen- 
ate, had  become  inefficient,  and  almost  useless,  and  principally 
from  the  adverse  action  of  the  State  Legislatures.  And  nothing 
could  more  strikingly  demonstrate  the  truth  of  this  proposition, 
than  the  fact  stated  by  Mr.  Webster,  and  confirmed  by  Mr.  'Quin- 
cy,  that  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  where  the  opposition  to  the 
present  law  has  been  most  general  and  violent,  no  fugitive  glare 
has  e<rer  been  surrendered  since  the  adoption  of  the  constitution. 
It  is  difficult  to  deal  with  such  a  state  of  things,  and  at  the  same 
time  preserve  our  respect  for  those  who  seek  to  make  political 
capital  out  of  this  agitation,  so  utterly  unsuited  to  the  occasion, 


•404  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

And  what  renders  this  course  the  more  extraordinary,  is  the  fact 
that  it  has  never  been  shown,  so  far  as  I  know,  that  one  single  per- 
son, not  a  slave,  has  ever  been  surrendered  anywhere  under  the 
constitution.  And  yet,  to  read  the  violent  speeches  and  essays 
upon  this  subject,  one  might  suppose  that  the  sending  of  free  per- 
sons into  bondage  was  an  every  day  occurrence,  which  called  for 
universal  indignation.  The  recent  disclosures  which  have  been 
-made  since  the  new  law  went  into  effect,  and  which  show  a  fugi- 
tive slave  population  in  the  non-slaveholding  States,  far  beyond 
what  any  one  had  anticipated,  is  the  best  commentary  upon  the 
"inefficiency  of  the  former  statutory  provisions,  and  the  best  justifi- 
cation for  the  complaints  of  the  South.  What,  then,  my  fellew  cit- 
izens, do  we  want?  We  want  the  restoration  of  harmony  and 
tranquility  to  every  portion,  however  scattered,  of  this  great  re- 
public, stretching  from  the  shores  that  look  upon  Europe,  to  those 
which  look  upon  the  islands  and  continent  of  Asia.  All  want  the 
peaceful  enjoyment  of  our  priceless  institutions,  and  especially  so 
do  we,  who  are  approaching  our  three  score  years  and  ten,  who 
have  passed  our  lives  happily  under  this  government,  and  who  de- 
sire to  cast  off  the  fearful  apprehension,  that  long  as  we  have  lived, 
we  may  yet  outlive  the  constitution  of  our  country.  American 
citizens  fiom  the  cradle,  in  God's  good  time,  we  hope  to  descend 
as  American  citizens  to  the  grave,  with  the  conviction,  that  after 
the  religion  of  His  Son,  we  leave  to  our  children  the  richest  herit- 
age that  ever  descended  to  a  people.  We  want  no  more  discord, 
^excitement,  agitation,  but  that  the  legislation,  the  business,  the  in- 
tercourse of  the  country  should  go  on  as  in  our  former  days  of  true 
union,  with  all  the  prosperity  which  belongs  to  such  a  state  of 
things.  No  more  crusades  against  the  South,  no  more  public  as- 
semblies to  denounce  and  vilify  its  people  and  its  institutions,  no 
more  travelling  missionaries  to  excite  us  against  one  another,  and 
especially  no  more  foreign  travelling  missionaries,  who  leave  at 
home  objects  of  misery  quite  enough  to  engage  all  their  philan- 
thropy, and  exhaust  all  their  charity,  without  coming  here,  to  in- 
struct us  how  to  deal  with  a  great  question  of  constitutional  duty. 
We  want  the  ministers  of  religion  to  preach  the  gospel  of  the 
meek  and  lowly  Jesus,  and  not  to  convert  their  pulpits  into  political 
tribunes,  to  inculcate  the  doctrine  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  ex- 
istence of  social  order,  that  every  man  has  a  right  to  resist  the  laws 
of  his  country,  when  they  differ  from  a  standard  he  chooses  to  es- 
tablish for  himself,  and  of  whose  extent  and  obligations  he  must  be 
the  judge.  This  is  not  the  example  which  was  left  us  by  our  Di- 
yine  Master  and  his  apostles.  And  who  can  point  to  a  single  ad- 
vantage which  has  resulted  from  all  this  violence,  much,  indeed, 
of  it  virulence  ?  Has  the  prospect  of  emancipation  in  a  single 
state,  been  advanced  by  it  ?  No,  no.  By  a  natural  spirit  of  reac- 
tion— a  spirit  which  prompts  all  of  us  to  resist  foreign  interference, 
the  institution  of  slavery  is  more  firmly  established  in  all  the  slave- 
holding  States  than  it  was  thirty  years  ago.  In  the  operations  of 

\ 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL  CASS.  405 

an  excited  zeal,  the  fearful  consequences  involved  in  the  question 
of  emancipating  three  and  a  half  millions  of  human  beings,  of  a 
different  race,  habits,  color — in  everything,  indeed,  that  constitutes 
human  identity,  living  in  the  midst  of  another  and  superior  caste, 
are  utterly  disregarded,  and  men  rashly  deal  with  such  a  subject  as 
they  would  deal  with  a  question  of  common  domestic  economy.. 
Well  it  is  for  the  South  that  this  whole  matter  belongs  to  them- 
selves. There  it  can  only  be  left,  and  there  the  constitution  has 
left  it.  (Applause.)  If  there  are  any  of  us  in  the  non-slave-hold- 
ing States  so  afflicted  with  a  superabundant  philanthropy  that  we 
cannot  be  easy  without  philanthropic  action,  if  we  will  but  stand, 
in  our  own  doors  we  can  look  around  and  see  objects  enough  for 
our  charitable  exertion,  without  expanding  and  expending  this  sym- 
pathetic feeling,  where  the  cost  to  lis  is  as  little  as  the  advantage 
to  others.  It  is  a  cheap  way  to  be  charitable,  looking  at  its  results 
upon  the  peace  of  the  country.  (Cheers.)  We  have  been  just 
told,  in  a  public  meeting  at  Worcester,  by  a  modest  English  mis- 
sionary, who  has  come  over  here  to  enlighten  our  ignorance,  and 
stimulate  our  virtuous  indignation,  that  the  "  idea  of  abolition  had 
taken  root,  and  could  no  more  be  put  down  than  the  waves  of  the 
broad  Atlantic  could  be  rolled  back,"  &c.  And  this  is  precisely 
what  the  South  fears,  and  what  a  large  portion  of  the  South  be- 
lieves ;  and  what  increases  the  fearful  difficulty  of  their  position, 
and  of  ours.  They  see  in  all  these  movements  an  eternal  attack 
upon  the  institutions  of  independent  States,  and  they  foresee  the 
time  when  the  barriers  of  the  constitution  will  be  broken  down,  and1 
this  object  pursued  till  accomplished  or  defeated  by  some  terrible 
crisis.  The  South  is  committing  no  aggression  upon  the  North. 
They  do  not  claim  the  right  to  interfere  in  our  domestic  relations, 
and  to  mould  them  to  their  own  pleasure  instead  of  ours.  I  firmly 
believe  that  a  great  majority  of  the  Southern  people  would  be  fully 
satisfied  with  the  compromise  measures  of  the  last  session  of  Conr 
gress,  if  these  are  faithfully  adhered  to,  and  this  perpetual  warfare, 
upon  them  and  their  institutions  terminated.  They  acknowledge 
the  institutions  of  the  constitution,  and  are  willing  to  abide  by 
them.  Are  we  willing  to  meet  them  in  this  patriotic  duty  1  I 
trust  we  are,  fellow  citizens.  I  feel  sure  we  are.  But  we  have 
passed  the  season  of  empty  professions,  and  need  action,  vigorous, 
united,  constitutional  action.  We  have  approached  the  brink  of 
destruction,  and  if  we  do  not  speedily  retrace  our  steps,  we  shall 
be  precipitated  into  the  abyss.  These  times  and  this  question  are 
above  party.  It  is  not  a  difference  of  opinion  respecting  modes  of 
administration  which  divides  us,  but  it  involves  the  very  existence 
of  the  confederation.  Whenever,  or  wherever,  or  however  this 
question  comes  up.  let  us  forget  that  we  are  party  politicians,  and 
remember  only  that  we  are  Americans.  Let  us  follow  the  example 
of  the  venerable  Kentucky  statesman;  doing  battle  for  his  country 
towards  the  close  of  a  long  and  illustrious  life,  with  all  the  intel- 
lect and  energy  of  his  youth,  and  forgetting  his  party  associations 


406  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CA8S. 

in  the  higher  party  of  the  constitution.  Let  us  discountenance  all 
further  agitation  of  this  whole  subject.  Let  us  rest  upon  the  com- 
promise, firmly  and  honestly.  Let  us  satisfy  the  people  of  the 
South,  that  the  constitution  is  a  law,  which  is  high  enough  for  pa- 
triotic Americans,  and  that  lor  us  and  our  households,  we  will 
hold  by  our  obligations.  If  we  do  this,  all  will  be  well.  If  we  do 
not,  we  shall  add  another  to  the  long  list  of  nations,  unworthy  of 
the  blessings  acquired  for  them  by  preceding  generations,  and  in- 
capable of  maintaining  them,  but  none  as  signally  so  as  we. 

The  words  of  admonition  and  warning  expressed  by  Gen.  Cass, 
in  his  admirable  letter  to  the  committee  of  the  Democratic  Union 
festival  at  Baltimore,  in  December,  1850,  should  be  borne  in  mind 
by  every  peace  loving  and  law  abiding  man,  no  matter  what  may 
be  his  political  tenets. 

"  The  Union,"  said  Gen.  Cass.  "  The  Union  is  in  danger." 
The  evidence  of  this  is  borne  to  us  by  every  breeze.  Measures 
are  advocated  and  urged,  both  in  the  North  and  South,  with  a  zeal 
overleaping  all  discretion,  and  with  a  determination  of  purpose 
which,  if  it  does  not  despise  danger,  disregards  it,  and  which  if  not 
turned  from  its  object  by  patriotism  and  moderation,  will  sound  the 
knell  of  liberty  in  this  republic.  Let  every  true  American  come 
up  to  the  good  work.  Let  us  all,  whigs  Bud  democrats,  unite  in 
this  holy  duty,  and  rescue  the  ark  of  the  constitution,  from  the 
perils  that  surround  it.  Let  us  preserve  our  respective  principles 
of  policy  and  administration  ;  let  the  whig  remain  a  whig,  and  the 
democrat  a  democrat ;  but  in  the  great  work  of  protecting  their 
last  and  best  refuge  of  human  freedom  from  external  and  internal 
foes;  let  us  join  together,  head  and  heart,  and  this  end  once  ob- 
tained, we  can  go  on  our  way  rejoicing,  to  continue  that  contest 
of  action  and  of  opinion  which  se^ms  essential  to  the  free  and  con- 
stitutional action  of  our  government. 

I  cannot  be  with  you  at  your  meeting.  But  the  loss  will  be 
mine,  for  I  am  sure  there  will  be  a  demonstration  of  affection  and 
attachment  to  the  Union  which  will  gladden  the  heart  of  the  pat- 
riot, and  which  will  send  on  the  decree,  already,  I  trust,  gone  forth 
from  the  bosom  of  this  great  community.  Let  us  live  together  as 
friends,  as  brethren,  as  members  of  one  vast  family,  where  the 
rights  and  interests  of  each  are  sacredly  regarded  and  protected 
by  the  power  of  all.  Let  us  be  one  people,  with  one  country  and 
one  government,  and  let  us  have  no  other  struggle  but  for  the  com- 


LIFE    OP    GENERAL    CASS.  407 

mon  glory  and  common  prosperity  of  this  great  Confederation, 
ivhose  boundaries  are  already  swept  by  the  breezes  that  come  from 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans. 

The  action  of  Gen.  Cass,  on  the  slavery  question,  received  hearty 
approval,  not  only  from  the  democracy  of  Michigan,  but  from 
the  friends  of  union  and  constitutional  rights  every  where  in  the 
United  States.  He  was  hailed  without  distinction  of  party,  as  one 
of  the  saviors  of  the  Union.  The  country  was  for  some  time  in  a 
most  perilous  condition,  and  had  there  been  other  and  less  firm 
and  patriotic  men  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  the  result 
must  have  been  disastrous  to  the  confederacy.  A  crisis  had  been 
reached,  where  the  perpetuity  of  our  Union  seemed  to  depend 
solely  on  the  deeds  of  a  few  statesmen  whose  decision  would  either 
quiet  the  fierce  excitement,  or  add  to  its  fury  by  uniting  with  it, 
the  experiment  of  disunion.  The  incidental  questions  of  public 
policy,  arising  from  the  existence  of  slavery,  have  for  years  past 
afforded  a  tempting  opportunity  to  selfish  and  ambitious  dema- 
gogues to  raise  a  storm  which  has  rocked  and  tossed  the  ship  of 
State  upon  a  wild  sea  of  agitation,  which,  but  for  the  sacrificing 
endurance  of  a  few  unyielding  pilots  must  have  finally  overwhelmed 
it.  They  faced  the  storm,  and  foremost  among  them,  from  the 
first  moment  of  threatning  danger,  stood  the  venerable  Senator 
from  Michigan,  amid  the  storm  and  tempest  guiding  the  bark  he 
had  in  charge,  safely  into  port,  despite  the  southern  hurricane  of 
nullification  and  disunion,  and  the  northern  blasts  of  abolition  and 
fanaticism. 

There  was  a  moment  in  that  intense  excitement  when  the  storm 
had  nearly  reached  the  height  of  its  power,  when  the  discordant 
elements  of  nullification,  freesoilism,  and  abolitionism,  thought  to 
obtain  the  victory  over  the  veteran  helmsman,  but  they  were  driv- 
en back,  beaten  and  discomfitted.  At  the  time  of  the  election  of 
Gen.  Cass  by  the  Legislature  of  1849,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
defeat  him.  A  mass  of  heterogeneous  opposition  was  arrayed 
against  him,  with  strength  which  would  have  overwhelmed  any  one 
less  pure  in  principle,  or  infirm  of  purpose.  But  the  remembrance 
of  his  patriotism,  his  efforts  for  the  safety  of  his  country,  proved 
his  shield  and  buckler.  He  triumphed  over  the  combined  factions 
which  sought  his  defeat.  They  were  able,  however,  to  hamper  his 


408  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

free  action  by  a  set  of  resolutions  of  instruction,  expressive  of 
opinions  repugnant  to  the  position  he  had  maintained.  But  the 
triumph  was  but  momentary.  At  the  succeeding  session  of  the 
Legislature,  the  shackling  resolutions  were  repealed,  and  Gen. 
Cass  left  free  to  act  as  his  judgment  should  dictate. 

The  men  who  bound  him  down  by  instructions,  which  he  could 
not  conscientiously  obey,  retraced  their  steps,  satisfied  that  they 
had  been  guilty  of  great  wrong  to  their  country,  their  Senator  and 
themselves.  It  was  fortunate  for  the  destiny  of  our  country,  that 
the  Legislature  of  Michigan,  before  it  was  too  late,  corrected  the 
mistake  that  it  had  made.  Gen.  Cass  would  not  have  disobeyed1 
the  instructions  he  received,  nor  would  he  have  done  that  violence 
to  his  own  opinions  which  they  demanded.  He  would  have  re- 
turned his  trust  to  his  constituents,  and  perchance  his  place  might 
have  been  occupied  at  the  very  moment  of  extreme  danger,  by 
one  less  unyielding  to  the  momentary  and  unsound  impulse  that 
dictated  the  instructions.  But  a  still  greater  change  was  yet  to 
occur,  bearing  with  it  a  more  triumphant  vindication  of  his  states- 
manship and  patriotism.  His  term  as  Senator  expired  with  the 
Coagress  of  1850.  The  whole  sentiment  of  the  country  asked' 
for  his  re-election,  and  the  Legislature  of  1851,  with  an  unanimi- 
ty unprecedented,  selected  him  on  the  first  day  of  the  session,  for 
the  ensuing  six  years.  Their  choice  received  the  warmest  appro- 
bation from  the  national  democratic  party,  and  his  whig  opponents 
secretly  rejoiced  at  his  return  to  the  Senate.  The  congratulations 
which  were  spontaneously  offered  to  the  democracy  of  Michigan 
for  this  glorious  tribute  of  attachment  to  the  true  principles  of  the 
party,  were  received  with  inexpressible  pleasure.  They  felt  as  if 
they  had  in  part  paid  the  immense  debt  of  gratitude  due  him,  a 
debt  which  can  only  at  most  be  partially  discharged  by  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  highest  honors  of  the  Republic.  Few  indeed  will  de- 
ny that  his  moderation  and  firmness — his  conciliatory  policy, 
guarded  by  strict  adherence  to  constitutional  provisions  and  com- 
promises, conjoined  with  the  efforts  of  other  distinguished  states- 
men, averted  the  danger  which  threatened  our  Union. 

The  democrats  of  the  nation  cannot  forget  how  unfalteringly 
he  bore  at  the  late  Presidential  contest  the  standard  of  their  party, 
with  that  glorious  sentiment  of  his  own  heart — "Our  whole  coun- 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CABS.  409 

try — no  sectional  prejudices" — and  that,  although  the  eagle  of  vic- 
tory did  not  then  rest  upon  our  flag,  yet  the  stout  hearted  bearer 
kept  it  "  full  high  advanced"  beyond  the  reach  of  the  motley  crew 
who  would  have  trailed  it  in  the  dust  and  dirt  of  sectional  agita- 
tion and  the  filth  of  abolition.  The  defeat  of  the  democratic 
party  in  that  contest,  is  one  of  those  events  which  cannot  be  ac- 
counted for,  by  any  system  of  political  deduction,  founded  upon 
ordinary  premises,  but  must  be  ascribed  to  a  general  prevalence 
of  misapprehension — perhaps  indifference.  The  result  should 
teach  a  salutary  lesson,  which  every  democrat  should  carry  insert- 
ed at  the  head  of  his  political  creed,  that  "  eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  success." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Gen.  Cass'  acquirements  aud  literary  standing — His  power  as  a  writer — His  com- 
mand of  language — Contributions  to  the  Reviews — His  sketches  of  Indian 
character — His  exposure  of  the  frauds  and  inaccuracies  of  certain  writers  of  In- 
dian History — His  account  of  the  battle  of  JNew  Orleans — His  travels  in  the 
East — Extract  from  North  American  Review — His  addresses  on  ieveral  occa- 
sions— Extract — Extracts  from  his  address  before  the  New  England  Society  of 
Michigan — •'  France,  its  King.  Court  and  Government — Extract  from  address 
before  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Michigan — His  personal  appearance,  &c.— 
Conclusion. 

The  more  immediate  object  of  this  work  is  to  present  in  con- 
nection, the  principal  events  in  the  life  of  Gen  Cass,  which  have 
marked  his  career  as  a  public  man,  on  the  field  of  battle,  in  the 
Cabinet,  at  a  foreign  Court,  and  in  the  halls  of  legislation.  In 
closing  this  sketch  of  his  public  life,  a  brief  mention  of  his  literary 
productions  will  serve  to  show  that  his  pen  has  not  been  confined 
exclusively  to  the  advocacy  of  political  theories;  and  that  even 
amid  the  labors  of  the  camp,  the  treaty  ground,  or  the  diplomatic 
circle,  he  has  found  time  to  add  to  the  literary  wealth  of  our  coun- 
try, and  enrich  its  stores  by  giving  to  the  public  his  views  and 
impressions  on  subjects  about  which  they  have  felt  more  than  or- 
dinary interest.  His  essays  and  reviews  exhibit  a  most  profound 
and  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  subjects  of  his  research,  and 
his  reflections  are  clothed  in  language  pure,  comprehensive  and 
definitely  expressive  of  the  idea  of  the  writer.  Certainly  no  better 
illustration  of  the  strength  and  power  of  the  English  language,  can 
be  found,  than  in  his  writings.  For  felicity  and  clearness  of  ex- 
pression ;  for  using  just  the  right  word  in  the  right  place,  and  an 
entire  absence  of  all  "  fantastic  barbarism  of  expression,''  they 
hold  a  high  rank  in  the  world  of  letters.  His  contributions  to  the 
North  American  Review,  in  the  days  of  its  commanding  influence 
and  superiority,  added  as  well  to  the  celebrity  of  that  magazine, 
as  to  the  dissemination  of  correct  information  upon  subjects  which 
formed  the  text  of  his  criticisms. 

The  most  accurate  and  reliable  account  of  the  condition,  traits 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  411 

of  character,  and  philological  peculiarities,  of  the  Indian  tribes  is 
to  be  found  in  the  articles  of  Gen.  Cass,  published  in  the  North 
American  Review  during  the  year  1827,  reviewing  the  works  of 
Hunter,  Halkeld,  Heckwelder  and  Rawle,  on  Indian  customs  and 
manners.  The  gross  misrepresentations  of  the  first  named  writer, 
the  results  of  ignorance  and  a  design  to  create  odium  against  the 
United  States,  were  exposed  in  a  masterly  manner,  by  Gen.  Cass, 
in  the  January  number  of  the  Review,  for  1827  ;  and  the  errors 
and  inaccuracies  of  the  devoted  missionary,  Heckwelder,  caused 
by  his  close  intimacy  with,  and  fondness  for,  one  single  tribe,  in- 
vestigated and  corrected  in  a  spirit  of  enlightened  criticism  seeking 
to  impart  truth,  while  it  regretted  the  necessity  of  counteracting 
the  effects  of  the  erroneous  opinions  and  prominent  errors  of  the 
zealous  and  self-sacrificing  Moravian.  Additional  contributions 
to  knowledge  of  Indian  affairs,  and  a  correct  understanding  of  the 
policy  of  the  United  States,  in  regard  to  the  Indians,  were  made 
by  Gen.  Cass  in  elaborate  communications  to  the  same  Review,  in 
the  years  1828  and  1830,  in  which  the  relations  of  the  government 
with  the  aborigines  are  fully  explained  and  investigate  d.  The  state- 
ments of  the  London  Quarterly  Review,  upon  which  it  based  its 
censures  of  the  treatment  which  the  Indians  received  from  the 
United  States,  were  shown,  by  indisputable  proof,  to  be  equally 
destitute  of  courtesy  and  truth.  The  siege  of  New  Orleans  forms 
the  subject  of  an  article  from  the  pen  of  Gen.  Cass,  published  in 
the  American  Quarterly  Review  for  January,  1835 — and,  although 
the  account  of  a  British  officer,  of  the  attack  on  New  Orleans,  is 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  article,  the  reader  will  find  the  article  to 
be  a  separate  and  distinct  narrative  of  that  brilliant  event. 

"When  Gen.  Cass  accepted  the  office  of  Minister  to  France,  it 
was  with  the  condition,  that  if  the  duties  of  his  station  would  per- 
mit it,  he  should  fulfil  a  determination  previously  made,  of  visiting 
the  lands  of  ancient  story  and  classic  history.  Opportunity  favor- 
ed this  determination,  and  Gen.  Cass  visited  the  countries  famed 
in  history  as  the  theatre  of  great  events,  sacred  and  profane.  He 
ascended  the  Nile — traversed  the  Holy  Land — saw  the  Mount  of 
Olives — the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  Mount  Gihon,  and  the  pools 
and  fountains  around  Jerusalem,  as  recorded  in  Bible  history.  It 


412  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

is  to  be  regretted  that  he  has  not  given  to  the  world  a  continuous 
account  of  his  travels  in  the  East. 

The  following  extracts  from  an  article  in  the  North  American 
Review,  will  afford  an  example  of  Gen.  Cass'  power  of  description  : 

*      .  "  This  great  sandy  desert  extends  along 

the  Mediterranean,  at  a  short  distance  from  its  shores,  and  reaches 
to  the  Red  Sea.  It  obtains,  very  soon,  a  considerable  elevation, 
and  then  presents  the  aspect  of  an  irregular  plane,  varied  by  hills 
and  hollows.  A  traveler  in  this  region  would  see  before  him  a 
chain  of  sand  hills,  extending  across  the  line  of  his  route,  and,  on 
attaining  their  summit  would  see  beneath  him  an  immense  valley. 
Whether  approaching  by  the  Lybian  or  the  Arabian  desert,  the  as- 
pect would  be  the  same.  He  would  stand  upon  a  sandy  ridge,  with 
all  that  the  imagination  could  conceive  most  desolate  behind  him, 
and  before  him  one  of  the  most  magnificent  prospects  ever  pre- 
sented to  human  eyes.  He  would  survey  a  deep  valley,  bright  with 
vegetation,  and  teeming  with  a  depressed  but  laborious  population, 
engaged  in  the  various  labors  of  agriculture.  He  would  see  oppo- 
site to  him  another  eternal  rampart,  which,  with  the  one  he  stands 
upon,  shuts  in  this  valley,  and  between  them  a  mighty  river,  flow- 
ing in  a  winding  course,  from  the  foot  of  one  chain  to  the  other, 
furnishing  lateral  canals,  which  become  fountains,  whence  the  wa- 
ter is  elevated  by  wheels  and  buckets  of  the  rudest  structure, 
worked  sometimes  by  men  and  sometimes  by  cattle,  and  no  doubt 
identical  with  the  process  in  use  in  the  days  of  Sesostris  ;  and  this 
water  is  conveyed  over  the  surface,  and  communicates  that  won- 
derful fertility,  which  formerly  rendered  this  country  the  granary 
of  the  world,  and  yet  endows  it  with  a  power  of  production  un- 
known even  in  the  most  highly  cultivated  parts  of  Europe.  And 
this  river  is  the  Nile,  and  this  valley  is  Egypt ;  the  Egypt  of  the 
enslaved  Israelites,  and  of  their  proud  task-masters ;  the  Egypt  of 
the  Pharaohs,  of  the  Ptolemies,  and  of  the  Mamelukes;  the  Egypt 
of  On,  of  Thebes,  of  Memphis,  and  of  —  Damietta ;  the  Egypt 
of  early  civilization,  where  science  and  literature  were  first  culti- 
vated, and  whence  they  were  sent  to  enlighten  the  nations  of  the 
west,  and  the  Egypt  of  the  Fellahs,  and  of  the  grossest  ignorance 
and  misery. 

*  *  *  *  * 

Jerusalem  has  been  a  fruitful  theme  in  the  journals  of  the  trav- 
elers. Tradition  has  marked  the  spot  of  every  interesting  inci- 
dent, which  the  Scriptures  record  as  having  occurred  within  its 
walls.  Credulity  and  skepticism  have  equally  examined  and  dis- 
cussed these  legendary  tales.  Men  of  the  ardent  temperament  of 
Chateaubriand  and  Lamartine,  believe  every  thing  ;  while  others, 
like  Volney,  whose  mental  temperament  is  different,  believe  noth- 
ing. Probably  not  one  stone  of  ancient  Jerusalem  remains  in  its 
place.  They  point  to  a  part  of  the  foundation  of  the  walls,  facing 
the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  where  are  some  large  blocks,  apparently 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  413 

of  an  earlier  age  than  the  rest  of  the  structure,  and  consider  these 
as  the  relics  of  the  ancient  city.  But  this  is  a  mere  conjecture, 
resting  upon  no  established  proof.  Jerusalem  has  been  swept  with 
the  besom  of  destruction.  The  imprecations  against  it  have  been 
fulfilled.  The  Assyrian,  the  Greek,  the  Roman,  the  Crusader,  the 
Turk,  the  Egyptian,  have  marched  over  its  walls,  and  established 
their  camps  in  its  holy  places.  Superstition,  fanaticism,  revenge, 
have  conspired  to  sweep  away  its  monuments  and  to  make  it  deso- 
late. The  great  features  of  its  topography  no  human  power  can 
change.  They  have  been  imperishably  marked  out  by  an  Almighty 
hand.  Its  site  occupies  the  projecting  point  of  a  high  hill,  bound- 
ed on  the  east  by  a  deep,  narrow  valley,  successive  portions  of 
which  were  called  the  valley  of  Kedron,  of  Jehoshaphat,  and  of 
Siloam,  in  the  bottom  of  which  flows  the  brook  of  Kedron  ;  and 
on  the  southwest  and  south  by  the  valley  of  Sihon,  where  trickles 
the  little  stream  called  Gihon.  These  rivulets  unite,  a  short  dis- 
tance below  the  pool  or  spring  of  Siloam,  and  wind  their  way 
among  broken  mountains  to  the  Dead  Sea.  On  the  northwest  the 
city  joins  the  table  land  of  the  country,  and  it  is  in  this  direction, 
that  it  has  been  successively  enlarged  and  contracted,  as  prosperity 
or  adversity  augmented  or  diminished  its  population.  And,  al- 
though it  has  been  supposed  by  some  writers,  that  the  ancient  city 
extended  across  the  valley  of  Gihon,  yet  the  conjecture  has  been 
advanced  solely  to  render  the  legendary  sites  of  some  of  the  mira- 
culous events  which  occurred  within  its  walls,  consistent  with 
Scripture  narrative,  and  is  contradicted  by  the  nature  of  the  ground; 
for  it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose,  that  the  advantage  of  a  strong 
position  would  be  abandoned  by  enclosing  a  deep  valley,  when 

there  was  space  enough  on  the  table  land  for  indefinite  extension. 

***** 

The  reverberation  of  the  sun's  rays  gave  to  the  vale  of  Siddim 
an  equatorial  heat  in  the  month  of  August,  and  we  raised  ourselves 
from  the  fount  of  Elisha,  and  resumed  our  route  to  the  Dead  Sea, 
before  the  dawn  of  day,  to  avoid,  as  much  as  possible,  the  noon- 
tide sun.  We  traversed  much  of  the  space  between  Jericho  and 
the  shore  of  the  lake  in  the  night,  and  a  most  impressively  mourn- 
ful ride  we  had  of  it ;  over  barren  sands,  covered  here  and  there 
by  low,  stunted  bushes,  every  now  and  then  striking  us  in  the  face, 
to  warn  us,  as  it  were,  that  the  home  of  the  wild  Arab  was  around 
us.  And,  a*  the  streaks  of  morning  light  dawned  over  the  moun- 
tain of  Moab,  a  most  extraordinary  spectacle  presented  itself  to 
our  eyes ;  an  army  appeared  upon  the  dreary,  deserted  sand,  be- 
tween us  and  the  dark  water,  which  stretched  away  beyond  our 
view,  lost  in  the  high  ridges,  which  overhung  it.  No  deception 
was  ever  more  complete  ;  for  long  ranks  of  soldiers  seemed  drawn 
up,  marching  and  countermarching  in  all  directions,  with  great 
regularity.  It  looked  as  if  the  genius  of  the  place  had  embodied 
his  forces,  to  bar  all  access  to  his  gloomy  dominions.  And  it  was 
only  as  the  day  advanced,  and  as  we  approached  the  shore,  that  our 


414  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

formidable  enemy  assumed  the  peaceable  shape  of  countless  flocks 
of  birds,  of  the  heron  species,  who,  the  Arabs  say,  come  to  pass 
the  night  upon  the  sand,  and  in  the  day  seek  their  food  among  the 
reptiles  in  the  mountains.  The  immensity  of  their  numbers  ex- 
ceeded all  imagination  ;  and,  if  the  regions  of  Palestine  are  fertile 
in  nothing  else,  they  must  be  most  prolific  in  snakes,  if  the  Arab 
natural  historian  may  be  trusted.  And  this  is  the  Dead  Sea,  and 
below  these  dark  waters  are  the  sites,  perhaps  the  ruins  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah,  such  as  "when  the  smoke  of  the  country  went  up, 
as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace."  There  is  a  tale,  that  nothing  living, 
not  even  a  bird,  can  ever  cross  this  sea.  But  there  is  no  need  of 
imaginary  stories  to  heighten  the  desolation  of  the  scene,  and  we, 
as  well  as  other  travelers,  can  testify  to  its  inaccurary,  by  our  own 
observations.  We  believe,  however,  that  its  waters  are  unfavora- 
ble to  animal  life ;  and,  though  a  shell  or  two  may  be  occasionally 
picked  up  upon  the  shore,  yet  these  have  been  probably  brought 
down  by  the  Jordan.  The  water  is  excessively  bitter  and  nause- 
ous ;  and,  if  additional  evidence  were  wanting,  we  also  could  testify 
to  its  great  gravity,  and  to  the  buoyancy  of  the  human  body,  when 
immersed  in  it.  It  is  only  by  much  exertion,  and  for  a  very  short 
time,  that  any  one  can  get  and  remain  below  the  surface. 

We  went  from  here  to  the  Jordan,  and  struck  the  river,  vrhere 
tradition  says,  the  children  of  Israel  passed  over,  when  they  first 
entered  the  Land  of  Promise.  On  the  west  side  is  a  low  bottom, 
and  on  the  east  a  high  sandy  bluff,  and  the  shores  of  the  river  are 
covered  with  aquatic  bushes.  The  water  was  thick  and  turbid, 
and  the  current  rapid,  and  too  deep  to  be  sounded,  {;  for  Jordan 
overflowed  all  his  banks,  all  the  time  of  harvest.''  And  here  cross- 
ed the  Jewish  nation,  over  this  turbulent  stream,  "on  dry  ground, 
until  all  the  people  were  passed  clean  over  Jordan."  And  we  fol- 
lowed their  route  to  Jericho,  the  frontier  city  of  the  Canaanites, 
where  "the  people  shouted  with  a  great  shout,  that  the  wall  fell 
down  flat,  so  that  the  people  went  up  into  the  city,  every  man 
straight  before  him,  and  they  took  the  city."  There  is  no  city  now 
to  take,  nor  are  there  any  walls  now  to  fall.  There  are  a  few  mis- 
erable hovels,  made  of  rude  stones  and  mud,  and  the  ruined  walls 
of  a  building  of  the  middle  ages,  where  the  wretched  Arabs  bur- 
row, rather  than  live.  Jericho  has  disappeared  as  completely  as 
her  rival  cities,  which  sunk  before  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty. 
And  it  requires  an  effort  to  be  satisfied,  that  here  the  great  mira- 
cle, which  attended  the  entrance  of  the  Jews  into  Canaan,  was 
performed,  though  the  truth  of  the  denunciation  is  before  the  eyes 
of  the  traveler :  "Cursed  be  the  man  before  the  Lord,  that  raiseth 
up  and  buildeth  this  city  Jericho." 

On  various  occasions  Gen.  Cass  has  delivered  addresses  before 
scientific  and  literary  associations  and  other  societies,  most  of 
which  have  been  published  and  laid  before  the  public.  In  Sep- 
tember 1829,  he  delivered  a  discourse  at  the  first  meeting  of  the 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  415 

Historical  Society  of  Michigan;  and  also  one  in  1836,  before  the 
American  Historical  Society  of  Washington,  of  which  he  was  Presi- 
dent. In  August,  1830,  he  accepted  an  invitation  from  the  asso- 
ciation of  the  Alumni  of  Hamilton  College,  to  deliver  an  address 
at  their  anniversary  meeting.  He  also  delivered  an  oration  on  the 
Fourth  of  July,  1843,  at  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  at  the  celebration 
of  the. completion  of  the  Wabash  and  Erie  canal. 

It  is  presumed  that  the  reader  will  ask  no  apology  for  the  inser 
tion  here  of  the  annexed  portions  of  the  address  delivered  by  Gen. 
Gass  before  the  New  England  Society  of  Michigan,  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  December,  1848.  The  description  of  the  impressive 
ceremony,  when  the  Pilgrims  were  about  to  leave  the  shores  of 
Holland,  is  unequalled  for  beauty  of  expression  and  fitness  of  lan- 
guage to  the  scene  portrayed. 

"  And  now  came  the  embarkation ;  the  first  act  in  the  great  dra- 
ma of  their  pilgrimage.  The  May  Flower — I  pass  over  the  history 
of  her  consort,  as  she  did  not  reach  America — the  May  Flower, 
destined  to  become  their  ark  across  the  ocean,  was  ready  to  receive 
them  at  the  small  port  of  Delft,  in  Holland.  The  little  colony, 
male  and  female,  youth,  manhood  and  old  age,  marched  in  solemn 
procession  to  the  strand,  and  here  occurred  an  impressive  scene, 
one  of  those  incidents,  which  mark  the  character  of  events,  and 
leave  their  impress  upon  history,  during  all  time  to  come.  The  de- 
parting band  kneeled  down  upon  the  beach,  and  their  venerable 
pastor  blessed  their  enterprise,  and  commended  all,  with  all  their 
interests,  to  Him,  who  made  the  sea  and  land,  and  conld  save  them 
from  the  perils  of  the  deep,  as  he  saved  his  chosen  people,  and 
guided  them  in  his  own  miraculous  path  through  the  waters  of  the 

Red  Sea." 

***** 

"  And  on  the  strand  of  the  ocean,  in  that  temple  not  made  with 
hands,  was  the  last  offering  of  the  Pilgrims.  The  old  cathedrals 
of  Europe  are  imposing  structures,  powerfully  affecting  the  human 
imagination,  and  preparing  the  human  mind  for  the  solemn  duties 
of  Religion.  Their  dim  light,  mellowed  by  the  stained  glass, 
painted  with  interesting  scenes  from  Biblical  story,  their  lofty 
arches,  their  clustered  columns,  their  long  aisles,  their  silence  and 
their  magnitude,  and  the  centuries  that  have  passed  over  them, 
with  the  memory  of  the  numberless  host,  that  worshipp  ed  there 
and  have  now  gone  to  their  account,  all  these  impress  the  faculties 
with  awe,  and  while  they  shut  out  external  nature,  they  invite  man 
to  the  contemplation  of  himself  and  of  his  relation  to  his  Creator. 
But  the  shore  of  the  ocean  was  the  cathedral  of  the  exiles.  They 
had  the  blue  firmament  of  heaven,  God's  own  canopy,  over  them, 
their  altar  was  the  tide  worn  beach,  where  land  and  water  had  met 


416  LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS. 

and  contended  for  mastery  since  the  creation  ;  around  them  was 
the  coast  of  Europe,  they  were  about  to  leave,  and  the  broad  At- 
lantic, they  were  about  to  cross,  rolling  its  surges  upon  the  strand, 
and  mingling  its  mighty  voice  with  the  voice  of  the  preacher  ;  and 
between  them,  their  wives  and  children,  and  the  forests  of  the  new 
world,  was  nothing  but  the  sky  and  the  water,  and  the  wonders  of 

the  great  deep.     And  thus  they  prayed  and  departed. 

*  *  *  *  * 

"  The  chances  and  changes  of  the  world  are  written  in  living 
characters,  upon  every  page  o{  human  story.  Sometimes  its  mu- 
tations, in  the  stern  reality  of  truth,  are  stranger  than  the  wildest 
fiction  of  Eastern  imagination.  I  have  often  conversed  in  early 
youth,  with  a  venerable  relative,  then  at  the  extremity  of  a  long 
life,  who  was  a  cotemporary  of  the  first  child,  born  to  the  Pilgrims, 
after  they  landed  upon  this  continent.  What  an  almost  overpow- 
ering image  of  the  progress  of  this  federative  empire,  does  the 
simple  fact  present,  that  a  single  life  measures  the  space  between 
the  oldest  born  of  one  great  portion  of  the  new  race  destined  to  oc- 
cupy this  Hemisphere,  and  the  twenty  millions  of  people,  who  are 
now  fulfilling  that  mighty  mission,  commenced  in  weakness,  but 
consummated  in  power.  Between  the  little  band  of  self-expatriated 
Christians,  seeking  a  home,  they  knew  not  where,  and  the  means 
of  life,  they  knew  not  how,  and  the  great  nation  which  has  none  to 
make  it  afraid,  and  which  stretches  its  vast  domain  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Pacific,  and  almost  from  the  Arctic  Circle  to  the 
Northern  Tropic.  What  contrast  can  be  stronger  or  stranger,  than 
that,  which  this  day  in  its  annual  revolution,  presents  to  the  obser- 
ver ;  commemorated,  as  it  is,  wherever  the  sons  of  New  England 
are  found ;  and  that  wherever  •  is  everywhere,  and  in  regions  far 
beyond  the  world  of  the  Pilgrims,  and  that  which  it  presented,  when 
the  rock  of  Plymouth  received  the  stranger  from  the  bosom  of  the 
ocean,  and  became  his  pedestal  in  a  New  World.  It  was  the  end 
of  his  pilgrimage.  It  has  now  become  the  object  of  ours.  A  shrine 
of  patriotism,  hallowed  by  the  act  it  witnessed,  to  which  our  coun- 
trymen will  hereafter  come  up,  and  standing  where  the  Pilgrims 
stood,  recall  the  days,  and  the  deeds,  and  the  dead,  which  make 
that  mass  of  unhewn  granite  one  of  the  high  places  of  the  earth. 
It  needs  no  sculpture  to  give  it  interest.  No  inscription  to  carry 
down  to  ages  yet  unborn  the  memory  of  the  scenes  which  have 
passed  over  it,  and  which  will  forever  "  live  in  remembrance,  and 
grow  green  in  song."  And  I  have  stood  upon  this  relic  of  the 
olden  time,  and  have  called  back  tjie  day  of  debarkation,  and  the 
humble  scene,  which  has  made  it  immortal.  And  I  have  stood  in 
prouder  phces  ;  prouder  in  their  renown,  for  their  names  are  writ- 
ten on  the  (Jeathless  pages  of  Homer  and  Herodotus.  I  have  stood 
upon  the  plain  of  Troy,  and  the  field  of  Marathon  ;  and  have  re- 
called the  departed  glories  of  the  early  ages  ;  but  if  these  names 
of  mighty  import  excited  my  imagination,  the  associations  of  the 
rock  of  our  fathers  touched  my  heart,  and  I  bowed  in  gratitude  to 


LIFE    OF    GENERAL    CASS.  417 

Him,  who  provided  a  home,  our  home,  for  the  Pilgrims,  and  gui- 
ded them  till  they  found  it. 

Gen.  Cass  was  also  the  writer  of  an  article  entitled  "  France,  its 
King,  Court,  and  Government,"  published  a  few  years  ago  in  tbc 
Democratic  Review,  and  since  then,  in  the  form  of  a  volume. 
The  influence  of  that  article  in  securing  the  good  will  of  the 
French  Court  and  Government  towards  the  United  States  and  their 
Representative,  has  not,  perhaps,  been  appreciated  to  its  just  ex- 
tent. 

The  latest  literary  effort  of  Gen.  Cass,  was  an  address  delivered 
in  September  1851,  before  the  Agricultural  Society  of  the  State 
of  Michigan.  This  address  has  been  published  in  nearly  all  the 
newspapers  of  the  country,  and  has  elicited  from  all,  unqualified 
admiration.  The  acquaintance  manifested  by  the  writer,  with  the 
minutia  of  agricultural  science,  is  indeed  astonishing,  when  it  is 
remembered  in  what  different  pursuits  he  has  passed  his  life.  The 
address  abounds  in  suggestions  for  improvement  in  agricultural 
knowledge,  which  are  thoroughly  practical,  and  have  on  their  face 
evidence  of  their  eminent  utility,  if  adopted.  The  duty  of  the 
agriculturist,  and  the  importance  of  his  occupation  to  the  welfare 
of  government,  is  forcibly  delineated  in  the  following  Mragraphs: 

"  I  have  presented  for  your  consideration,  for  your  co-operation, 
indeed,  various  suggestions  connected  with  the  advancement  of 
agriculture  ;  but  far  beyond  these  in  influence  and  importance,  is 
the  advancement  of  the  agriculturist ;  the  education,  sound,  prac- 
tical and  enlarged,  of  that  vast  body  of  our  youth  who  form,  and 
are  to  form,  the  farming  interest  of  our  country  ;  an  interest  that 
embraces  more  than  one  half  of  our  population,  and  a  still  greater 
proportion  of  the  permanent  influence  to  which  our  social  and  po- 
litical institutions  must  look  for  support  in  those  periods  of  their 
trial,  which  have  heretofore  come  upon  other  nations  and  have 
eome  upon  us.  The  cultivator  of  the  soil  is  engaged  in  one  of  the 
noblest  occupations  that  belongs  to  the  whole  circle  of  human  em- 
ployment. In  replenishing  the  earth  and  subduing  it,  and  in  mul- 
tiplying every  herb  bearing  seed,  and  every  tree  in  which,  is  the 
fruit  of  a  tree  yielding  seed,  all  of  which  were  given  to  man  "  for 
meat,"  before  he  left  his  primitive  residence,  where  God  first  plant- 
ed him.  He  deals  with  organic  life,  with  its  production,  its  im- 
provement, its  multiplication  with  the  means  of  subsistence  for  that 
great  family  of  rational  and  responsible  beings  which  "has  domin- 
ion" over  all  that  the  earth  brings  forth,  as  well  as  over  every  Kv- 
ing  thing  that  moveth  upon  it.  His  existence  does  not  pass  in 
crowded  cities,  the  works  of  man,  surrounded  with  the  physical 
27 


418  LIFE    GENERAL    CASS. 

and  moral  ills,  which  a  dense  population  is  sure  to  bring  with  it. 
He  walks  abroad  among  the  works  of  God,  reading  the  great  Book 
of  Nature,  whose  every  page  is  filled  with  lessons  of  wisdom,  writ- 
ten in  characters  that  no  man  can  misunderstand,  but  the  fool  that 
saith  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God. 

The  light  that  shines,  the  wind  that  blows,  the  rain  that  falls, 
the  phenomena  of  nature,  are  the  companions  of  his  daily  walks, 
and  works,  not  more  objects  of  curiosity  or  even  of  contemplation, 
indifferent  or  interesting,  as  he  neglects  or  observes  them,  but  ever 
active  agents  in  the  progress  of  production,  co-laborers  with  him- 
self in  the  domain  of  Nature,  performing  the  functions  assigned  to 
them,  "  in  seed  time  and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer 
and  winter,  and  day  and  night,"  which  we  are  told  by  Him  who 
knoweth  and  ordaineth  it,  shall  not  cease  ichilc.  the  earth  remaineth. 

The  work- shop  of  the  farmer  is  not  a  narrow  and  heated  room, 
shut  out  from  light  and  air — but  broad  fields  and  an  open  sky  are 
the  witnesses  of  his  labors ;  and  it  is  not  mere  inert  matter  that  he 
deals  with,  calling  into  exertion  his  mechanical  powers  only,  but 
one  of  the  great  kingdoms  of  living  nature,  furnishing  subjects  of 
ceaseless  observation  and  wonder  to  the  highest  intellect,  and  for- 
ever inviting  the  researches  of  man,  as  well  by  the  enlarged  views 
it  presents  of  great  natural  operations,  as  by  the  effect  of  this  in- 
creased knowledge  upon  the  heart  and  the  understanding,  and  by 
the  rewards,  which  are  sure  to  follow  the  exertions  of  the  enlight- 
ened cultivator. 

From  the  hyssop  that  springeth  out  of  the  wall,  to  the  cedar  of 
Lebanon,  from  the  lowliest  plant  that  creeps  into  life,  to  the  giant 
of  the  forest  that  rears  its  head  above  a  sea  of  vegetation,  resist- 
ing the  winds  of  Heaven  for  centuries,  there  is  a  mighty  mass  of 
organized  forms  endowed  with  a  principle  of  vitality,  which  pro- 
claim the  power  of  God,  and  invite  the  researches  of  man.  Won- 
drous are  its  extent,  its  variety,  the  laws  of  its  being,  the  purposes 
it  fulfils,  the  mode  of  its  production,  its  existence  and  its  repro- 
duction and  the  admirable  organization  by  which  its  functions  are 
to  be  performed,  and  inorganic  matter  converted  into  its  beautiful 
foliage,  which  covers  the  face  of  the  earth,  rejoicing  the  eye  and 
the  heart,  and  ministering  to  the  wants  of  sentient  creation.  And 
the  life  of  the  farmer  passes  in  the  midst  of  this  great  family  of 
nature.  It  is  his  daily  care  to  cultivate,  to  increase,  to  improve 
those  branches  of  it  which  are  the  most  necessary  for  human  com- 
fort and  subsistence ;  and  it  should  be  his  daily  pleasure,  as  it  i.« 
his  duty,  to  observe  the  processes  of  vegetable  life,  the  habits  of 
plants,  and  the  laws  regulating  their  organization,  that  he  may 
know  how  to  make  the  earth  bring  forth  by  handfuls,  like  the  se- 
ven plenteous  years  of  Egypt,  and  still  meliorate  his  practice,  as 
he  extends  his  knowledge.  Who  does  not  see,  that  here  is  scope 
enough  for  the  most  powerful  intellect,  the  most  enlarged  under- 
standing ?  The  practical  study  of  the  works  of  creation,  admit- 
ting the  application  of  advanced  science,  as  well  as  the  highest 


LIPE    Or    GENERAL    CASS.  419 

powers  of  personal  observation;  and  yet  since  the  earliest  period, 
indeed,  since  the  acorn  gare  place  to  wheat  as  the  principal  arti- 
cle of  subsistence,  a  delusion  has  been  propagated,  not  universal 
indeed,  for  there  are  honorable  exceptions,  both  in  ancient  and 
in  modern  days,  but  far  too  general,  and  so  firmly  maintained,  that 
even  now  it  exerts  a  powerful  influence,  and  is  but  slowly  yielding 
to  the  intellectual  progress  which  marks  the  age  in  which  we  live.'' 

Of  the  personal  traits  of  Gen.  Cass'  character,  but  few  words 
need  be  said.  His  benevolence,  towards  those  upon  whom  the 
hand  of  misfortune  has  been  heavily  laid,  is  well  known  to  those 
familiar  with  his  private  life.  In  times  of  public  calamity,  amid 
the  ravages  of  war — when  his  fellow  citizens  were  held  in  bond- 
age by  their  Indian  captors,  his  time,  influence,  and  purse,  were  de- 
voted to  their  use.  Many  persons  are  still  living  whose  lives  were 
saved  and  their  release  obtained,  by  his  interposition.  A  man  of 
great  wealth,  he  lives  unostentatiously,  and  there  is  no  show  of  un- 
usual splendor  about  his  dwelling,  to  mark  it  as  better  than  his 
neighbors.  Affable  and  co>irteous  to  all,  he  wins  the  respect  and 
friendship  of  those  who  approach  him. 

His  residence,  in  the  city  of  Detroit,  is  a  plain  wooden  build- 
ing, where,  in  the  intervals  of  his  Senatorial  duty,  he  passes  his 
time,  with  his  family,  unambitious  of  any  public  station  of  distinc- 
tion, except  when  called  from  his  retirement  by  the  general  voice 
of  his  political  friends,  to  assume  the  responsibilities  of  public  office. 

In  personal  appearance,  Gen.  Cass  is  decidedly  imposing.  His 
person  is  large,  robust  and  well  filled  out,  presenting  a  little  more 
embonpoint,  than  at  the  period  of  his  appointment  as  Minister  to 
France.  He  was  then  more  active.  His  movements  now  indicate 
something  of  the  caution  of  age,  without  any  of  its  weakness  or 
uncertainty.  In  heighth,  he  is  about  five  feet  eight  inches,  perhaps 
a  little  more,  the  fullness  of  his  person  giving  the  impression  of  a 
shorter  man.  His  frame  is  well  knit  together,  and  indicates  a 
muscular  power  that  has  been  developed  by  early  exposure.  In 
watching  his  powerful  step,  now,  the  observer  would  read,  without 
surprize,  the  account  of  the  incident  elsewhere  related,  which  oc- 
curred, nearly  thirty  years  ago,  at  the  Saut  St.  Marie,  when  he  ad- 
vanced into  the  midst  of  a  hostile  camp  of  Indians,  and  tore  down, 
with  his  own  hands,  the  cross  of  St.  George,  and  placed  in  its  stead 
the  star  «pangled  banner  of  his  country.  He  would  feel  certain, 


420  LIFE    OF    GENERAL   CASS. 

that  the  General  would,  under  similar  circumstances,  do  it  again. 

Gen.  Cass'  face  is  full  and  expressive ;  his  forehead  is  lofty, 
while  its  great  breadth  and  singular  depth  from  brow  to  occiput, 
indicates  power  of  intellect.  His  head  is  of  the  largest  size,  and 
the  outlines  classical,  and  no  one,  who  meets  him,  can  doubt  he 
has  encountered  a  deep  thinker  and  a  statesman.  His  brows  are 
bushy  and  heavy  ;  his  nose  rather  long,  but  elevated,  full,  rectili- 
near and  classical ;  his  eyes  are  blue,  and,  when  in  repose,  subdued 
in  expression.  Numerous  busts  and  paintings  have  been  made  of 
Gen.  Cass.  It  is  believed  that  the  finest  marble  is  that  by  Jones, 
who  has  idealized  the  head  sufficiently  for  the  demands  of  art, 
without  losing  any  of  the  essential  detail  to  a  likeness.  A  portrait 
of  Gen.  Cass,  by  Mr.  Bradish,  is  said  to  be  a  most  excellent  like- 
ness, and  a  superior  work  of  art.  It  represents  him  in  the  act  of 
addressing  the  Senate  :  one  arm  thrown  behind  him,  in  an  attitude 
that  will  be  recognized  by  all  who  are  familiar  with  his  manner  of 
speaking.  —  » 

In  closing  this  sketch,  the  writer  would  say,  that  in  the  scope  of 
a  single  volume  like  this,  it  is  not  possible  to  do  justice  to  the 
character  and  services  of  Gen.  Cass,  nor  has  he  the  vanity  to  think 
that,  under  any  circumstances,  could  he  be  able  to  perform  that 
duty.  That  must  be  reserved  for  an  abler  pen.  To  present  suc- 
cinctly the  main  features  of  the  public  career  of  Gen.  Cass,  and  to 
show,  by  extracts  from  his  speeches  and  addresses,  how  earnestly 
he  has  labored  for  the  good  of  his  country,  and  how  entirely  free 
from  sectional  prejudice  he  is,  as  a  statesman,  has  been  all  that 
the  writer  hoped  to  accomplish. 


THE  END. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


FEB    1 

BECDLC 


JL  : 

im  APR 

•1  <   *^->     V 

'  J?C   11978 


OC7 


SEP  02  1983 

UKC.  OtPT.  URL 


12005 


378 


Form  L9 — 15m-10,'48(B1039)444 


;  SOUTHERN  REGIONALIB^Ry A  'U^ 


AA    001137493    1 


3  1158  00155  8419 


